Cath Bond - Art Online
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The Art of Stitch Exhibition
Wednesday, 24 May, 2006 - 17:01
George and I just visited the Art of Stitch exhibion at the Royal West of England Academy in Bristol. It was really inspiring, and a completely different experience to our usual textile exhibition visits. We were viewing textiles as art (in a renowned art gallery) in contrast to viewing textiles as craft in a craft-associated gallery space.
I particularly liked this piece of work - found materials constructed into a piece. It reminded me of attics and scraps washed up on a shoreline. Old suitcases evoke such strong memories as well. They have a story to tell.
Some of the pieces had so much work involved in them. I liked the use of mixed media, especially stitch with plastic bags as a background.
George was unsure about how to react to an embroidered picture with bits of thread left unfinished. I really like the way that threads are left, it makes a number of statements. There are no rules about tying off the thread. The artist isn't concerned with the thread being tied in, it adds to the impressionistic style of the piece for threads to get caught and not lie neatly on the fabric. The thread is used as a sketching tool, in the same way that a pencil sketch may have old marks, thumb prints, an unfinished, throw-away quality.
We talked about the difference between art and craft. I was thinking that art makes statements, it sometimes break boundaries, pushes things further out in the use of the medium, take the techniques to the different places to create juxtapositions, comments. It either does this through the composition, the material or even the type of stitch. One piece was a kind of cross stitch of pornographic magazine adverts. A total clash of subject matter and the "normal" use of this technique.
One piece I really liked was by Lucy Smethurst, specifically because I'm really enjoying circles and dots at the moment.
The piece reminds me of contemporary interior design patterns - I liked the use of circles added, covered with different materials.
George and I also liked the piece which was a body print with machine embroidery added to give the effect of flesh, sinews, blood etc. Amazing how stitch can create that kind of effect.
We both wished that we could touch some of the pieces, because they had such a tactile quality. They called out to be touched. Also, we couldn't take photos to use afterwards as ideas. Is this another difference between art and craft? With craft, everything is knowledge to be shared and passed on, no idea is precious. In fact ideas are important in terms of them being passed down. But with art it's about individuality, intellectual property, ownership, expression of concepts, commentary on society or on self.
Textile structures
Did I enjoy inventing constructed surfaces?
Yes I enjoyed the random elements of creating constructed surfaces. I like the way that yarns come together and interlink naturally, and dictate where they should go. I found it helpful to tackle a section of the course that was extremely fluid in terms of interpretation. It doesn’t involve special techniques such as stitch or dyes. I also found that I could experiment more freely with different types of materials and yarns. I particularly enjoyed creating a range of yarns and seeing a new yarn come to life through the intertwining of contrasting materials.
The samples that worked the best were the tree weave and the wave. I found the tree weave much easier to construct compared to the wave. The wave kept alluding me, as it was confusing to work out how to continue capturing a 3D twist and turn, but I stuck with it and eventually got somewhere.
I think it helped having a construction in mind, and an idea of colours and materials. The tree-weave construction was inspired by a tree in my garden and the edges are constructed from its branches. I think the best thing about these exercises has been about not caring whether it really works or not. It’s more about making connections in terms of yarns and constructs, and learning through construction. The tree-weave is more regular in construction than the sea-weave, and it therefore works much better in terms of strength and holding together.
The ribbon construction didn’t work very well at all in terms of holding together!
What I do find interesting though is how the oddity of materials react against each other and hang in their own way. A photo captures this so well. I’m realising more and more how much a photograph of a textile piece actually changes the properties of the textile in terms of how it’s perceived. A friend of mine sees my work regularly but only via photographs. I wonder what he’d like if he saw the real-life textiles compared to photos.
In terms of matching colours to my postcards, I achieved matches as best I could but it was difficult to match perfectly. It helps to interpret a picture through yarn though, and I enjoyed translating sky colours into yarn.
A piece of my own
Saturday, 20 May, 2006 - 17:54
What have I achieved?
I can definitely see a continuous thread of development from my original drawings and samples to the final designs. A lot of the preparation took place in my mind, in reflecting and looking and constructing ideas internally. I worked the idea over and over, and developed it through bringing together all I have learned so far. The piece was really a consolidation of many influences that have come from my sketchbook obsessions, especially in terms of circles. I was happy to let these influences happen and not to force them too much in terms of a specific design. I often work in this way when I create a final piece of work, because I enjoy the creation and how it the journey just happens.
I enjoyed the development of the piece happening over a number of days, as it took various turns and layers. I was able to leave the piece behind and think about it without being too close to it.
In terms of the design process, I made the right decision in not dictating too clearly what would happen in the final piece. I’ve spent so long creating samples and going through exercises, I could tell that I was just at that point where I was ready to express all my thoughts and everything I’d learned in a piece.
The technique I used was perfect for the ideas I wanted to interpret. I wanted to create movement, and sections of shade and light in white. I wanted the white background to be ephemeral. I needed tiny details in the white, and the machine embroidery was perfect for this. I wanted to capture the air and bubbles of sea foam, and was able to do this through constructing very loose machine embroidered circles. The final piece captures so much movement and detail. It’s coherent as a whole for me. I loved making the piece and am proud of the fact that the whole thing is constructed from scratch. Before it didn’t exist at all in any shape or form except in my mind.
The only thing I would change – the piece was made to hang on a wall in my lounge to compliment the colours of another textile hanging I made some time ago. Unfortunately, the wall is white and the hanging is white and so the setting doesn’t completely compliment the hanging. Also, the details are so subtle in the hanging that you can’t see them very well when you sit down in the lounge. If I was to change anything next time, I would consider more carefully where the piece would be viewed from!
Internationally known textile artists who I find inspiring
Wednesday, 10 May, 2006 - 17:01
Machiko Agano – Out There
This is a hand-knitting technique to produce large scale netting structures. These nets hold plastic pieces of fruit. The imagery it evokes for me is the relationship between man and nature. Netting especially holds such symbolism as a connection between the material which comes from nature, woven by man to capture food. The craft technique in itself is used to express the concepts in her work. I like the structural tension created through her work, and the neutrality of colour. The repetition of one type of knit also adds to the simplicity of her work:
The imagery is about nature, movement, the relationship between creation and dimension, plays of shadow and light. The artist is concerned with the simplicity of creation which leads to complex structure.
Shelly Goldsmith
I saw Shelly Goldsmith’s work in this month’s edition of Crafts magazine, and was really taken by the image entitled Baptism (deconstructed reclaimed christening garments). The article about her work states that for Shelly Goldsmith, “clothes are an interface between public and private worlds” (p.63). The christening gown has a photograph of a flooded church printed on it in muted colours. The item unites person and place, and creates a powerful dramatic narrative. It invokes ideas and thoughts about the child, and about the place.The colours make the dress look like it has been dragged through water. I like the idea of recycling an old garment because it already has an unknown story woven into it. I also love the technique of placing a photograph onto the dress.
How do I view the textile artist?
I view textile art in the same way as I would a painting or a sculpture. I contemplate the concepts being translated through the material, shape and form. I see the piece as a source of inspiration. I look from a note book point of view, and capture comments and thoughts which will influence my work. I sketch and make recordings to keep for future reference. I view Machiko Agano in the same way I would sculpture by Barbara Hepworth. They are both influenced by nature, and their work chrystallises natural movement using different materials.
I think that textile art still has some way to go to be accepted as media for fine art by the fine art establishment. When I do research on the internet, the lack of presence of textile art from a fine art point of view is highly significant. Wikipaedia, the internationally known online encyclopaedia contains an entry for “textile art”, but no links to any textile artists. Major gallery websites such as Tate Modern contains hardly any links to textile artists.
Textiles in society
May 1st 2006 – Why do craft-produced textiles maintain a place in society?
We live in a world of increasing globalisation and mass media, and in this kind of society, a sense of individuality can easily be lost. Craft-produced textiles play the essential role of bringing individuality back into the foreground. When I look at the role that textiles in my life bring, I look at items and they tell me a story. They have a history, an identity and that individuality that I value. I own a crocheted woollen cardigan that my mother wore when I was a child. This piece of textile has memory attached to it. I wear it now and remember her.
The hand embroidered cushion in my lounge was made by my grandmother. She spent many hours stitching. I look at it and think of her.
I have pieces of raw sheep wool stitched into one of my samples. I picked up the wool on a holiday in Wales. It has memory stitched into it. These are very personal stories, and show my unique perspective on craft-produced textiles I own. In addition to that, when I view textiles created by other textile makers, I see imbued in it their sense of individuality and identity.
I was reading the May/June 2006 edition of Crafts magazine this morning, and there was an article about Brian Keeble who examines the relationship between arts and craft. Interestingly, the article describes Keeble’s view as such:
"It is through rhythmic and habitual actions that the crafts achieve significance, not through the modern concepts of individualism and self-conscious individuality." (p23)
Keeble goes on to say:
"By his most common and repeated actions the craftsman integrates himself with the vast, powerful, fructifying sources of reality so that his individual existence is not projected into a meaningless expanse of time and space." (p.23)
I agree with the concept of the crafts person achieving significance through repetitive action. They create their own unique microcosm, and the final products make their unique statement set against a backdrop of mass production. Ironically, over the last couple of years, mass produced textiles (especially fashion clothing)S have aimed to capture the sense of individuality of craft. Clothing has been ripped, had ribbons and patches sewn into it. The result is an odd, and for me its weak imitations seem to increase the lack of real meaning in the world!
The world of the textile artist
The world of the textile artist, designer-maker or craftsperson
The role of exposure to the public plays a major part in the difference between a textile artist and a craftsperson. A craftsperson’s main aim is to sell their work, and therefore the aim is to produce a number of craft items and gain publicity in order to sell that work for a living. In contrast, the textile artist’s aim is to make a statement with their work, and that is the aim in itself. The aim isn’t to gain publicity in order to sell a number of crafted items, but to create a name for themselves as an artist in their own right with a unique perspective on the world through their self-conscious artistic output. The artist uses craft techniques, but the technique is a means to an end to create an object/work of art. The item is not functional. I think that functionality defines the roles of crafts person, designer and artist. Functionality of an item plays the main role for craftsperson and designer but not artist. Craft techniques are central to the making for a craftsperson, whereas the designer may capture ideas but the final pieces would be made by someone else.
How does the textile artist differ from the designer? The textile artist isn’t interested in mass production, whereas the designer might be. But the designer may also make one-off items. The designer uses the same artistic means but to a different end. Items have function. They are to be worn or used on some way, shape or form. Whereas the items created by a textile artist don’t have function.
I seem to be rambling a bit here, but in essence, the main elements of differentiation are:
- functionality
- the role of the individual in the act of making
- the role of the public in the use/view of the item
April 29th 2006
Saturday, 29 April, 2006 - 16:44
I’ve been reading The New Textiles by Chloe Colchester, and have been thinking about the roles of craft makers and textile artists. Even the fact that I think about this makes me wonder – when are they one and the same, and when are they not. They both use textile techniques such as crochet, knit, dyeing, sewing, appliqué etc. but the roles of the finished products are often so different.
Labelling with words forces the issue, but it’s something I do think about now that I am studying and becoming more and more involved in textiles. Would I call myself a craft maker or a textile artist? When does a textile artist become a textile artist, and what gives them the credence? Is it the fact that they are publically known and exhibit their work? I guess the same question arises for artists specialising in painting. I paint at home so does that make me an artist or a hobbyist? I haven’t exhibited in galleries and I’m not publically known, whereas my close friend has exhibited publically, and is known in the art world. Does that make him more of an artist?
"Minkowitz creates ‘vessels’ from crochet, which she stiffens into shape with shellac. The delicate tracery-work is feminine without being trite." (p.111)
What is “trite” referring to here? Does the writer mean that crocheted art work isn’t trite but that other crochet work is perceived as trite? The title of the book is The New Textiles, and I can identify totally with the odd relationship it explores between textiles which exist from a craft point of view and textiles which exist from a contemporary art point of view:
"A number of the alternative and counter-cultural movements that spread from California in the 1960s, such as hippies, back-to-naturists and folk revivalists, identified with e idea of craft as a way of life. Thanks fo them the rather esoteric, art-school influenced studio craft movement changed and crafts became popularised. Crafts began to be sold at rural trade fairs all over America, and, to a lesser extent, in Europe as well. The inevitable price for such popularity was a falling-off of standards: much work was criticised as being banal, and the craft textile movement became firmly associated with macramé plant-pot holders. The hippy image of crafts proved difficult to shake off; and indeed, it was from the naïve soft-headed reputation of hippyism that the younger generation of design-makers of the style-conscious 1980s took such pains to distance themselves." (p.106)
I identify totally with this description of peoples’ perceptions of textiles. I still don’t think that the perception of textiles as a “hippyish” type of thing to do has been shaken off. I am often derided for creating crochet work, and people are puzzled by my study of textiles. They think I might be just sewing or making bags. It’s difficult to explain that I enjoy textiles for so many reasons that are not to do with their idea of craft. At the same time, I don’t feel that I am in the camp of a “textile artist”. I don’t really know where I see myself.
I enjoy textile work for the act of making. I enjoy textile work for the opportunity to work with a tactile medium, and a medium which involves natural fibres and a range of material, from your average wool to dead leaves. I enjoy the chaos of textile work – the medium often dictates to you where it wants to go. I enjoy the language involved in translating ideas into pieces. I enjoy the relationship between patterns found in nature and the marks, shapes created from textiles (e.g. coral).
I enjoy the fact that textiles can be made with the simplest of tools, and that techniques span back over thousands of years.
Why then is crochet looked upon as a hippy type of pastime? Why are people derogatory about craft work, but not about things like engineering or architecture?
I subscribe to the Craft magazine, and am slowly learning about textile as an art form as well as a craft. I find it sometimes fascinating and sometimes just odd. I’m not really sure what to think of some of it. But then I feel the same way about modern art when I visit galleries. I visited the Arnolfini Gallery in Bristol the other day, and the modern art there left me cold. I feel the same about some textile works I’ve seen in the Craft magazine.
Maybe the thing about textile art is that it really does have to consciously break away from peoples’ associations with textile as craft, in order for it to be taken seriously. Textile artists are at pains to distance themselves, and therefore the works are all the more conceptual. I agree with Edward Lucie-Smith’s point mentioned in The New Textiles that “any distinction between art and craft rests entirely on the intentions of the maker”.
Raised & structured surface textiles
Saturday, 15 April, 2006 - 16:54
I've now finished stage 4, entitled Raised & Structured surface textiles.
What have I achieved?
I prefer working with fabric rather than working directly with stitch. It's not easy to understand why this is, but I think it must be something to do with the ability to work quickly, and therefore to work more spontaneously. Also, I can more easily let fabrics dictate to me what they want to happen, and connect this with my sketch book work. This doesn't happen so easily with stitch.
I love working with textiles to create 3D effects. I am particularly please with this:
I like the way that gathering parts of the hessian has a ripple effect on other parts of the fabric. I'm really pleased with the movement I've managed to create, and how the fabric mimics the movement of waves. This particular piece relates very clearly to a sketch I did.
I also love the leaf-structure sample:
The reason I like this sample is because I incorporated bleach and teabag colouring to create an organic effect. This shows how I'm connecting things I've learned from previous exercises with new exercises.
I've also enjoyed trying out fabric folding:
This technique works really well for creating 3D effects, and I can see myself using this again in the future. With both of these samples, the fabric manipulation took over and dicated the final result. I found myself connecting directly with the fabric and letting it do what felt most natural in relation to the folds.
The angelina fibre was great to work with:
I can see a definite style coming through in my work, in relation to organic/natural mark making, circles, the sea. I love working with fabrics such as scrim, hessian, delicate threads, natural sheep wool. I'd like to see if I can somehow bring all of these influences together in a "piece of my own".
Unerstanding the textile world - my home fabrics
Thursday, 13 April, 2006 - 15:35
Two different styles of fabric dominating the world of interior home fabric – contemporary and traditional. Traditional images are flowers, chintz style leaves, conservative repeat patterns and colours. Contemporary patterns are bright abstract shapes, either repeated or not. The fabric is also contemporary, meaning that it branches out from traditional materials like cotton, calico etc. and moves into man made materials gauze, voiles, polyesters etc. The fabrics I have chosen for my home are a halfway house between traditional and contemporary:
Cushion covers made from a silk and polyester mix green fabric with dots woven into the material. The covers are lined with a band of burgundy cotton fabric with a traditional flower pattern.
A bedspread made from cotton and polyester mix, with a traditional paisley design using contemporary colours of blue and pink
Lounge curtains made from thick 100% cotton
Cotton cushion cover from Ikea embroidered with a colourful leaf and bird design. For me it is more than simply contemporary. It has the feel of a home made object rather than mass produced. Which is ironic considering it's from Ikea.
I am influenced by modern textile designs shown in magazines and in the media which portray today’s modern home as minimalist, enriched by colourful textiles. I have put my own spin on that approach by combining contemporary, traditional and quirky.
For instance, I made a cushion from my grandmother's embroidery combined with traditional patterned green cotton fabric.
Understanding the textile world – Popular home furnishing fabrics
Monday, 13 March, 2006 - 14:43
I’ve been researching examples of modern furnishing fabric and here are examples of the three most popular that I have found:
Imitation fur style fabric
Faux fur is very in vogue at the moment, and has grown in popularity over the last year or two. In fact, a testament to its popularity is its existence in large food stores such as ASDA and Sainsbury. It combines a low price with an expensive looking effect, and a range of colours and patterns can be produced.
The composition of this koala throw is 100% Modacrylic with 100% Polyester backing. Lining 100% Polyester/Taffeta.
Imitation silk style fabric
Another popular fabric I’ve noticed in interior home furnishing is a shiny colourful material often used for cushion covers. Again, it gives the impression of looking like expensive silk but it is an imitation made from 100% polyester or a combination of 70% nylon/ 30% rayon.
The designs on these fabrics are always contemporary or oriental. I like the richness of colour. It’s perfect for a throw or a cushion as it doesn’t overpower – it adds just enough extra to finish off a room.
Chenile
This is a fabric I don’t like at all, but is very popular in home furnishing.
This bedspread is made from 80% polyester 20% rayon, and was made in China:
Understanding the textile world - natural or man made fibre
Monday, 13 March, 2006 - 15:56
Which would be my choice between natural or man made fibre? It would have to be natural. So why is this? I've never contemplated it before, but it must link into my sense of identity. I was brought up in a home where integrity was valued, and I see a greater sense of integrity in natural fabric compared to man made fabric. It's illogical really - I mean, since when is there a relationship betwen integrity and fibre?! I like to gather the wool left by sheep on barbed wire and use it in my work. Perhaps it's something to do with finding things in their raw form, and translating them before they have been translated by hands.
I saw an article in last month's Crafts magazine (March/April 2006) about new textiles being grown from organic matter such as bracket funghi and artificial skin. See Tissue Culture and Art Project.
Reflections on printing exercises
Monday, 06 March, 2006 - 18:46
Did I make a good selection from my drawings to use as source material for design ideas?
I think the best source material I chose was the images which created simple designs e.g. designs based on sketches of rocks in Pink Bay, Porthcawl:
Being able to boil images down to their most essential qualities is important in creating a strong design. The other images I chose were good for creating contrasts and trying out different fabric printing techniques.
What qualities appealed to me in the fabrics I chose?
I like the way that silk paint lends itself to communicating a simplistic image. I wouldn't be drawn to using silk for communicating lots of detail. Some fabrics carry patterns easily, and in these cases the pattern speaks louder than the fabric itself. This isn't the case with hessian. Hessian refuses to be bowled over by a pattern, and I like the tension that creates:
Is the scale of marks and shapes on the samples appropriate to the fabric?
I chose a dark fabric to capture a sponge print, and the scale of the marks worked well here. I wanted to make sure that the texture of the sponge was captured in the print, and therefore it was essential to use a fabric which could carry the thick paint:
I didn't really consider the scale of the marks when I was printing, but in retrospect I must have gauged this unconsciously. The balance of harmonies works well in the green circles image, as I used the sponge and the cut-out parts of the sponge to create the print:
Larger samples
I was really pleased with how the larger samples turned out. I took on board my tutor's feedback and added layers of different styles of printing to create depth in this sample (you can see the original that it developed from too):
The experiment in salt and silk worked well in creating this final sample that is based on sketches of sea water:
I like the way that the silk paint is darker on the edge. I also like the way the technique of silk painting in this way lends itself to spontaneity, which links back to the original sketch I did.
Visit to tutor - March
Friday, 03 March, 2006 - 18:00
I showed printing samples to my tutor, and the colour work I did. The feedback she gave was to experiment with building up layers of print to give a different effect. Most of my printing so far has involved just one layer. She liked the organic looking piece and the purple sample done with bleach.
I really enjoyed doing these. It's fantstic to watch the bleach slowly change the colour of the fabric. We talked about how I should try experimenting with salt on silk so I tried that when I got home as one of my larger samples.
I’m really pleased with the way it turned out. I’m also pleased with the way silk painting works well without gutta. It’s a fast moving experiment, which leads to less thinking and more spontaneity.
I have to be honest in saying that I've learned a lot from the printing section of this course, even though it's not something that motivates me intrinsically. My tutor's encouragement and feedback has been really valuable. I'm amazed at what a difference it makes when someone you respect comments on your work.
Project 4 – developing design ideas, Stage 4 – What have you achieved?
Friday, 17 February, 2006 - 11:28
Making space move
I really enjoyed this exercise because it was so abstract, and involves looking at space so directly. It’s amazing how the whole box changes when you move the square around. There is a different dynamic in the relationship between the black squares and the space in the box, depending on if the square is tipped diagonally, how near it is to other squares, where it is placed in position to the edge of the box or even if it is over the edge of the box. I also enjoyed placing straight lines in different positions in the box. It helps me to understand abstract art so much more by doing exercises like these.
My stage 3 drawings
I’m not very pleased with the drawings I did in stage3 and 4. I didn’t feel I could engage fully with what I was doing, but I did enjoy using my PC to change the colours and sizes of the images, and to focus on specific areas of the images. This was really exciting, as it meant I could work in a quick way, especially in terms of inverting the image and changing the colours.
I think my lack of enjoyment of the design project is directly related to my motivation about the course at the moment. I have found it difficult to engage fully when I feel I should be getting out into the world and engaging with people rather than working alone at home. Certain changes in my personal life very recently have contributed to this change of perspective, and perhaps given time things will settle back down so that I can feel more balanced about dedicating time to the course.
I enjoyed working on developing design ideas from the cacti photograph. I felt I could engage fully with developing design ideas from it. Why was that?
The visit to the Barbara Hepworth museum made a big impression on me, especially the conservatory. It reminded me of when I lived in Portishead, a peaceful house full of succulents and cacti. I think that my emotional relationship with the image helped me to engage more fully. I am also seeing a theme emerge in my work, in the style of dots and repetitions of circles. It’s shown through my depiction of pebbles, different sized circles grouped together that live in a cohesive group. This image is a powerful one for me to work from because it already encompasses a theme that is developing in my work.
January 4th, 2006 - working spontaneously
Wednesday, 04 January, 2006 - 21:39
“In the studio I like to be free to work intuitively - feeling my way inch by inch - making decisions based on what has been laid down previously. It’s very much a two way process - a dialogue between the artist and the work.”
From weblog of Sue Lawty, textile artist in residence at V&A
I have been thinking about the same thing recently. I’ve been struggling to be inspired by some of the exercises in the course which take you the student a journey through depiction, abstraction, analysis of patterns, textures, colours etc. At the moment it feels forced for me. I’m so used to working intuitively, feeling my way inch by inch and having the dialogue I choose to have. I’m drawn again and again to the patterns in waves, pebbles – images, patterns and textures appear in my mind and develop over time. At the moment, my preoccupations don’t seem to work so well when they need to fit into the specified exercises. I’m so glad that sketch book work is as important as the exercises. Some of my development work comes about while trying to fall asleep at night. If I find myself worrying over every day life things, then I find it helpful to distract myself by thinking about how to recreate sea patterns, layering bits of crocheted wool etc.
My next major section of the course is printing. I feel quite daunted at the moment by the prospect of not knowing what to buy. I’d love to try out the silk painting but it’s quite expensive. Marbling looks really exciting too!
December 9th - reflection on course exercises (colour)
Friday, 09 December, 2005 - 21:28
I really enjoyed working with colour, especially because it gave me permission to focus just on colour itself rather than using colour as a tool for effect in my work. I have a general understanding of how colour works, how to mix it and what combinations work well together, but I hadn’t connected this with the colour circle before. I now understand why my intuition often tells me to put this colour with that colour. It makes them sing together, vibrate, bring the colours out more etc.
Stage 2 - Colour Squares
I noticed that some colours act in different ways when put together – they vibrate, or they remain flat, they merge with the other colour or seem to grapple with it. For instance, pink vibrates against green. Purple is flat on orange, pink merges into orange.
By placing grey squares onto different colours I could see that other colours emerged. For instance, blue seems to appear around the edge of grey on a pink box. Green after-effect appears around grey on a yellow box. The exercises show how important choice of colour combination is in creating a piece of work.
I am building up a sketch book which experiments with colour, and am enjoying putting contrasting colours together to reflect on the kinds of moods and effects they create. I am naturally more attracted to pastel colours, so it’s important for me to branch out into bright and discordant colours to expand my horizons and enjoyment of colour. It will help me tune in more to other colours and how I can use them.
Stage 3 – Recording colours accurately
This exercise forced me to look much more closely at the items and consider why those colours were chosen e.g. for the fabrics red and green need each other, blue, red and yellow are primary colours. In Monet’s painting, he has chosen to use a seemingly wide variety of colours, but many of them are from the same section of the colour spectrum i.e. green, blue, purple. I noticed that there were small areas of bright pink, and strong streaks of yellow. These colours compliment the rest of the colours e.g. yellow brings out the colour purple better than if the purple was on its own.
Stage 4 – Colour moods and themes
This was my favourite exercise, as I really enjoyed exploring colour in relation to mood, and thinking about the colours that I really enjoy and why I enjoy them. I have now started building a sketch book around the colours that have meaning in my life. At the moment, those colours are aqua/duck egg blue, and the combination of light blue/green with pink. I hadn’t realised that this colour was a major feature in my life until I really started observing things around me e.g. the colours on my walls, the yarns I am attracted to, the themes I focus on in my sketch books etc. What I notice is that the more I explore this colour theme, the more I realise that other colours tag along! I don’t just enjoy aqua/duck egg blue; I like the pink that sometimes appears with it, or the yellow. I like the way it changes character with various colours.
Stage 5 – Coloured stitches
I chose to stitch in blue and yellow. I found that the more I stitched, the more I became in tune with blue needing a bit of yellow and yellow needing a bit of blue! When a tiny dot of yellow is added to a large piece of blue, the yellow immediately stands out and the blue immediately becomes ‘the background’. In other stitches, I can’t distinguish which colour is more domineering. They work against each other and seem to be equally matched.
Stage 6 – to be done!
Answers to questions
I am able to use colours expressively, and this is something I want to continue exploring in my sketchbooks. I am finding more and more that certain colours benefit from another colour appearing nearby, and so this is something I need to become in tune with more over the next couple of months.
The exercises have helped me to really see colour instead of accepting what I think I see. It helps to focus my observations via a window frame, so that I am not distracted by seeing the whole picture. What I am noticing the most is that colours deceive. One colour on its own can be trusted to be that colour, but when colours combine they start to change and create other colours and after-effects.
I have no preference when it comes to gouache or water colour. Water colour doesn’t work well for matt, bright colours because it is see through. But it does work well for merging colours across a page, thereby creating quite muted-non aggressive moods. Gouache is opaque, therefore it can be used to create bright colours in matt, flat chunks. It worked well for my initial experiments in creating mood through colours.
The colour exercises in stage 5 were less interesting than the painting exercises. I was able to work more quickly with paint, and therefore remain clearly in touch with the mood I was conveying. This is much more difficult with hand stitching. After a while I became bored working with just two colours in stitch, and wanted to move onto trying many other things.
What factors made painting more exciting?
The main factor was being able to work spontaneously with the colours through paint, and let the colour speak for itself in the way it wanted to be manipulated in relation to the chosen mood. With chalks, paints, felt tips, paints I can play and experiment so easily. But with stitch I need to plan more. Often I don’t have the colours to hand. If I want to colour combine yarns, I need to re-thread the sewing machine or re-thread the needle… the symbiotic relationship between my intuition and spontaneity is broken by the nature of the medium. This is why I believe that sketch book work and exploration via source material is so essential as a background to creating a final piece of work. The sketch book records the journey. It captures abstract concepts and emotions that could be missed if I tried to work them straight into a textile.
Am I pleased with what I’ve achieved? Is there anything I’d like to change or develop?
I’m pleased with what I’ve achieved, however I feel that there is a whole world of colour out there yet to be explored. I wish I had all the time in the world to explore and become much more in touch with colour, but I am bound by time dedicated to other things such as working for a living! The best thing I can do is to book mark time every day to do a bit of work in my sketch book. Perhaps I could keep a colour mood diary, and write down my daily thoughts with colours rather than writing. I have just started reading poetry again, and that is another way I could start to explore mood and colour e.g. read the poem and translate it into colours. I will give this a go over Christmas.
December 6th, 2005 - Understanding the textile world
Tuesday, 06 December, 2005 - 21:25
I have chosen a textile pieces from home that I would like to spend time analysing and making notes on.
This shawl is owned by my grandmother and has been in the family since she was little. Although it is a “welsh paisley” shawl and became acceptable as part of the Welsh national costume, the paisley design doesn’t originate from Wales – it is from Kashmir in India.
The Shawl was a popular gift brought home from India and the East and when these became a fashion item, mills in Europe began to reproduce them:
"“It's possible to trace the origins of the pattern we recognise as 'Paisley'back to the civilisation of Babylon, 2000 years ago. It was introduced to Europe in the 18th Century when silk shawls were imported from Kashmir. Such an exotic design become very popular, and soon they were in great demand. How this was possible, it's difficult to understand since, even at the time, customers had to pay £200 - £300 per shawl. As with every craft the price doesn't reflect the craftmanship, since it used to take about a year and a half to weave one shawl. The weavers of Paisley in Scotland monopolised the production of the shawl and once again it was seen as a fashionable garment, and is now considered an essential part of our Welsh costume.”
My grandmother’s shawl was originally bought for her christening in 1922, along with her twin sister. My great grandmother couldn’t afford two scarves so she borrowed the second one. This shawl was produced by printing the design onto fine wool or cotton. I can tell that this is the case because this was the cheapest method of creation, and my great grandmother couldn’t afford an expensive shawl. Also, the shawl itself has a flat look to it that would come about through this type of production. It doesn’t have the qualities that a hand-made shawl would have e.g. kinks, flaws, a different kind of finish. After the Christening, my great grandmother may well have used the shawl to wrap her twins up in their pram. My grandmother now owns the shawl and she keeps it wrapped up safe as an heirloom.
What does it tell me about my great grandmother?
It tells me that my great grandmother respected custom. It would have been the custom of the day for babies to be christened in welsh paisley. It also tells me that my grandmother was very aware of her nationality and culture. I have also learned that my great grandmother was probably quite poor when her children were born, as she could only afford one shawl which was probably mass produced. Nevertheless, the shawl must have been highly valued by my great grandmother as she ensured that my grandmother treasured it.
I have really come to like this textile piece because the shawl now has a history attached to it. Textile pieces are more than just pieces of material. They can represent many things – one’s culture, one’s feelings, the joy of a particular occasion. What is pertinent for me is that it can tell me about my grandmother’s past.
December 6th, 2005 - Understanding the textile world
Tuesday, 06 December, 2005 - 21:25
I have chosen a textile pieces from home that I would like to spend time analysing and making notes on.
This shawl is owned by my grandmother and has been in the family since she was little. Although it is a “welsh paisley” shawl and became acceptable as part of the Welsh national costume, the paisley design doesn’t originate from Wales – it is from Kashmir in India.
The Shawl was a popular gift brought home from India and the East and when these became a fashion item, mills in Europe began to reproduce them:
"“It's possible to trace the origins of the pattern we recognise as 'Paisley'back to the civilisation of Babylon, 2000 years ago. It was introduced to Europe in the 18th Century when silk shawls were imported from Kashmir. Such an exotic design become very popular, and soon they were in great demand. How this was possible, it's difficult to understand since, even at the time, customers had to pay £200 - £300 per shawl. As with every craft the price doesn't reflect the craftmanship, since it used to take about a year and a half to weave one shawl. The weavers of Paisley in Scotland monopolised the production of the shawl and once again it was seen as a fashionable garment, and is now considered an essential part of our Welsh costume.”
My grandmother’s shawl was originally bought for her christening in 1922, along with her twin sister. My great grandmother couldn’t afford two scarves so she borrowed the second one. This shawl was produced by printing the design onto fine wool or cotton. I can tell that this is the case because this was the cheapest method of creation, and my great grandmother couldn’t afford an expensive shawl. Also, the shawl itself has a flat look to it that would come about through this type of production. It doesn’t have the qualities that a hand-made shawl would have e.g. kinks, flaws, a different kind of finish. After the Christening, my great grandmother may well have used the shawl to wrap her twins up in their pram. My grandmother now owns the shawl and she keeps it wrapped up safe as an heirloom.
What does it tell me about my great grandmother?
It tells me that my great grandmother respected custom. It would have been the custom of the day for babies to be christened in welsh paisley. It also tells me that my grandmother was very aware of her nationality and culture. I have also learned that my great grandmother was probably quite poor when her children were born, as she could only afford one shawl which was probably mass produced. Nevertheless, the shawl must have been highly valued by my great grandmother as she ensured that my grandmother treasured it.
I have really come to like this textile piece because the shawl now has a history attached to it. Textile pieces are more than just pieces of material. They can represent many things – one’s culture, one’s feelings, the joy of a particular occasion. What is pertinent for me is that it can tell me about my grandmother’s past.
November 18th - feedback from textile tutor
Friday, 18 November, 2005 - 20:56
I had feedback from my tutor today, and was pleased with the feedback from the tutorial. Here are the general points:
· Consider placing stitches on top of each other to create new dimensions in the textile work
· Start to experiment with other materials, e.g. plastic bags
· Have a go with using wax crayon or general wax to create interesting textures in my sketch book…. The wax acts as a resist to paint
· Tutor mentioned the work of Kirk Jackson who incorporates text into his art. Will need to look this up
· Suggested trying out weaving with pages from magazines to create textures and colours
We discussed how I am on a journey which involves breaking away from representation. I have been an artist for many years, and so am still in the habit of representing images. After discussion with my tutor, I really grasped an understanding of how representation can be limiting. It’s limiting because you are limited to the representation itself. For instance, if I work on using a leaf for inspiration, I would naturally think of the leaf itself, and representing the leaf so that I could say at the end, yes that’s definitely a leaf. But if I move away from representation, and set myself free from it, then I can be free to concentrate fully on what I see within the leaf – the patterns, textures, shades. I can make a journey through a series of sketches and interpretations which can then lead me to somewhere completely new. My tutor encouraged me to carry on working with a viewing frame to help make that leap. I agree that some of my work is still representational. It’s not something I should frown on or lose completely, but it is something I need to be aware of in terms of my journey through this course.
November 11th, 2005 - reflections on textile exercises
Friday, 11 November, 2005 - 20:58
There was a great deal of difference between machine embroidery and hand embroidery. I haven’t don’t hand embroidery before, and so found it a bit difficult creating different types of stitches from pictures and photographs. Thankfully, various friends helped me out!
The stitches I enjoyed the most in hand embroidery were couching, satin and bullion stitch. These stitches have something in common in that they create 3D effects. You are immediately drawn to touching the stitch because it is raised, it is dense and makes a dramatic change to the material. The couching allows for stitching any thread or material to the base… which means that you aren’t limited by the size of the needle’s eye.
I enjoyed exploring marks through machine embroidery, particularly getting in touch with what my machine can practically do. Particularly exciting was hand winding threads to the bobbin and then doing machine embroidery. This is a completely new technique to me, and it creates some great effects. I also noticed that the effects of machine embroidery are shown in the opposite way on the other side of the material – both sides have something interesting to share in terms of texture. I like the pointillist effect of dots created by two contrasting coloured threads.
Some types of thread worked better than others in hand embroidery. The silk threads were great because of the shine that emphasises the pattern of the stitch. Plain wool/cotton mix threads were sometimes too thin to show the pattern of the stitch, but worked well in a stitch such as couching, where the silk thread held the woollen thread to the material.
I particularly liked this sample because the colours of the threads and the style in which they are stitched are so natural, and yet the base is so bright and “unnatural” (in comparison to something such as calico or Hessian). It makes the whip stitch really stand out. The threads lift off the purple and seem to take on a character of their own.
I was able to pick out stitches which related directly to my mark making. For instance, stitching lines over and over on my machine in varying density created the effect of shading similar to pencil shading. French knots and seeding created the effects of dots. Satin stitch created the effect of shading. Couching related very well to my marks in relation to drawings of leaves. I was able to create spirals, swirls, lines, in varying styles and density.
The materials and threads used in this sample were well chosen, because they communicate the origins of the mark making, the organic, fibrous lines of leaves, skeletal marks. I used tissue paper and raw sheep wool to make the mark which is present between the lines. The stitches started from mark making based on a leaf, and took steps forward by exploring the effects of different types of thread – silver with brown, wool with orange thread, silk thread with brown thread. I really like the overall effect, and I think the calico unifies the piece.
With this particular sample, I felt drawn again and again to the original shape of the leaf, and to thoughts about the skeletal lines and fibre. It was difficult to think in abstract ways about the lines themselves as marks. Because I enjoy the theme of “organic” so much, I like to experiment within that theme rather than move beyond it. I think I could spend a lot more time on this particular theme, and keep expanding it. This particular sample is only the beginning of tapping into that area of creativity.
This sample was formed from a number of mark making sketches all intermingled to cover one piece of material. I was quite surprised by the final outcome, as it’s very different to what I expected. I like the effect produced by the shiny and matt threads done in satin stitch. I tried out the same stitches with two different threads as well. The silk threads show up the marks much more effectively than the matt threads (see the criss cross marks and the chain stitching). I like the random effect of the finished piece. It doesn’t have the coherency of the sample from stage 3, but I think that’s a good thing because it challenged me to just try things out and work spontaneously from the marks rather than be influenced by original images too much. I particularly like the effect made by sewing a piece of material onto the velvet with stuffing underneath. I could recreate delicate dots by then placing small stitches throughout the gauze to create a 3D pockmarked effect. This is offset by another experiment in couching using very thick wool.
For this sample I chose the marks made from Van Gogh’s Starry Starry Night. I chose these marks because I was excited to try out recreating the energy within the swirls. I wanted to discipline myself to a simple swatch of coloured threads and to choose the thickness of the threads so that they would invoke the texture of energy.
This plan worked particularly well. I worked on the reverse of the poplin cotton, sewing thick yellow thread onto the material using blue thread. The blue thread is a mixture of blues, so when it is stitched, it changes colour, and this helps to create a sense of changing depth in the swirling patterns. The colour of this thread works really well on top of the yellow. I decided to leave white space on parts of the sample to create a sense of bursts of energy in different places. I also like the way that the finished product isn’t neatly tied off. You can see how the yellow thread is captured and tied down by the blue thread, but the ends of the yellow thread sometimes escape. This also contributes to the idea of energy being wrapped into the piece.
Do I feel happy with the work?
I feel very happy with the work I’ve created so far in my journey through linking stitch to mark making. I’m particularly happy that my sewing machine can cope with creating machine embroidery. It sometimes creates effects that I didn’t expect, but I don’t mind that at all. In fact I think the element of surprise adds to the experience and final effect. I have always viewed my work as an organic experience, something that evolves according to a mixture of ingredients – my mood, the weather of the day, the materials I have to hand, the images I reflected on over the last couple of days, the techniques I thought about using. Creative textiles is essentially about creativitiy – I consider the opposite as things such as following a pattern, keeping to rules, keeping things neat and professionally finished. I prefer the exaggeration of the fact that a piece is home made, that it has threads left hanging and jagged edges. It brings my personal energy into the sample itself.
Do I prefer working with stitch to drawing?
I can see a clear relationship between stitching and drawing. I don’t have a preference, but have enjoyed the journey in mark making as a whole. It forces you to think about textiles in a more abtract way. I enjoy the aspect of moving from drawing to stitch. What I particularly enjoy about this is the excitement of choosing from a range of materials, yarns, threads etc to invoke the mood and marks in the original drawings.
Two of my samples aren’t related to mark making – the tissue dress sample and the St. Ives sample. This tissue dress sample was spontaneously created after seeing the tissue dress in Bath Costume museum. After the visit I spend some time reflecting on the dress, and imagined the kinds of materials I could bring together to recreate that feeling of delicacy, movement and waves.
During my visit to St. Ives, I was greatly influenced by the colours of sand, sea and rooftops. The bullion stitch sample is a chrystallisation of those thoughts.
These samples are examples of how I work spontaneously, making a leap of faith into the materials and yarns and stitches to recreate ideas.
Was I able to choose stitches which expressed marks and lines of drawings?
Stage 2 did give me the breadth of understanding I needed to make choices about stitches to use for different kinds of marks. I am particularly drawn to the 3D effects of stitching and would like to explore this further in the future.
Did the samples work well irrespective of the drawing?
The samples stand in alone in their own right, irrespective of the drawing. The drawing was a place to start, but I felt that the act of stitching took the samples to a new place. It’s important to see doodles, drawing, mark making as a starting point, and to let the materials, yarns and types of stitch move the piece of work forward spontaneously to a new place.
Which activities did I prefer – working with stitch to create textures of working with yarns to make textures?
I preferred working with yarns to make textures. This worked best because the most important thing for me is the effect the yarn has e.g. wool stitched onto velvet using couching creates a bumpy, wiggly effect, silk thread shines and therefore shows off the pattern of a stitch, silver thread creates delicacy etc. The yarn is a starting place for me – the yarn tells me what effect it can create in relation to marks and mood.
How do I prefer to work?
I work in many ways. I use drawings, digital photographs, reflections on visits to places, ideas from looking at yarns and threads and different material. The method which produced the most interesting work was reflections on visits to places. I wonder if that is because I have imbued my memories of those visits into the works themselves.
Are there any other techniques I’d like to try?
I’d like to try quilting, as this taps into my enjoyment of creating 3D textures. I like the undulations that are produced by stitching two materials together with filling inbetween.
I’d also like to try more couching with different yarns to see what kinds of effects I can produce.
November 3rd, 2005. Visit to Bath Costume museum
Thursday, 03 November, 2005 - 20:47
My friend and I visited Bath Costume Museum recently to gain inspiration for my textile course. The Costume Museum takes the visitor on a journey through costume from the 1600s to present day. All the costumes are displayed behind glass in subdued light in order to protect the materials. This was unfortunate because it wasn’t possible to see the stitch detail in all its glory. Nevertheless it was a privilege to see the costumes and link the development of fashion styles through time. We were given audio guides to listen to which enriched the experience, as explanations were given about the types of stitching used, the influences of politics, war, introduction of machinery etc. on the styles and the functional uses of the costumes. One dress was made in miniature which was so rich in stitches. This was used by the dressmaker as a sample to take to ladies in high society, so that they could choose the dress they wanted made.
It’s is a wonderful place to visit to see embroidery work at its best. I enjoyed every bit of it, and was amazed by the quality of the work created in the past. It seems quite ironic that textiles were much more exquisite, majestic, and refined when the world didn’t have access to machines, technology and all that we have now to create textiles. Mass production seems to create a divide between the textile and the individual. When I see textiles created by hand and I imagine the time it took to sew each stitch, it feels like that labour, energy and creativity is woven into the fabric. It gives the fabric an extra dimension of life that carries on throughout the centuries. Mass production clothes the masses but sacrifices the magic of hand-woven stitch.
Renaissance ornament design also had an impact on embroidery; the exploration by Raphael and other artists of the excavated art of ancient Rome included both the naturalistic carvings and the fanciful images of the wall paintings on which the grotesque style was based. In addition, flat stylised forms and interlaces (arabesques) were introduced from the Islamic world. The fruits of this rich mixture were spread with the help of printed sheets of ornament designs and pattern-books, some of which were aimed specifically at the amateur embroiderer…The influence of the printed designs is most clearly seen in the fine linen embroideries of the mid-sixteenth century onwards. They were worked both for dress and for furnishings, usually with vorder patterns varying from simple geometric interlaces to complex designs of swirling, naturalistic foliage or ganciful combinations including grotesque figures.
5000 Years of Textiles, Jennifer Harris. p.205
Elizabethan man’s shirt
One particular piece that inspired me was an Elizabethan man’s shirt from 1580-1590 decorated with blackwork embroidery. This is done with a thread so thin it looks like the images are drawn on with an ink pen. What amazed me was the fact that the designs looked so modern and quirky:
Unfortunately you can’t see the detail in this picture, but one of the images was of a bee which was so simple and so striking. The embroidery work is decorative rather than functional
Blackwork is a counted-thread embroidery worked in geometric designs with black silk on even-weave linen. Black isn't the only acceptable color for working these patterns (red or scarletwork was also popular). The Elizabethans frequently called blackwork Spanysshe work, and it was traditionally believed that the craft had come into popularlity with the arrival of Catherine of Aragon at the English court. But in fact, there are references to black silk embroidery on body linen as far back as Chaucer.
See website
Silver Tissue Dress
The first dress I saw was the earliest complete costume in the museum dating from the 1600s (time of English Restoration of the monarchy and the Court of Charles II). It was so beautiful and so delicate. The dress was made of a fabric called “silver tissue”. This was made of cream silk woven with silver metal thread, creating a “moiré” or “water” effect. I also noticed green thread trapped in faded brown cream parchment lace: The audio guide explained how the dress was probably originally owned by a girl of around 15, who would have worn it to a court event. I can understand how much this dress would have been treasured over the centuries, originally in relation to the memories imbued in it by the wearer, and then after by the admiration of the stitch work.
It inspired me to think about how I could recreate the quality and movement of water through the use of a mixture of media e.g. light green delicate gauze overlaid with antique style lace with silver metallic thread sewn throughout.
I spent a Friday morning choosing materials and threads inspired from this dress, and am really pleased with the outcome. It captures the delicacy I was looking for, and the movement of waves. I also enjoyed adding the random element of bullion stitches and couching on top of the piece. I placed some stuffing under some of the gauze to create a raised effect from the swirling stitches. I also added green tissue paper under the gauze but this can’t be seen so well. The use of silk paper worked well because it’s possible to see the swirls in the silk paper through the gauze:
Jane Austen exhibition
Two of the dresses shown in this exhibition (from the film Northanger Abbey) had embroidery stitches which created quite delicate effects. One was a white spotted muslin dress. Each spot in the muslin was created through raised stitches such as French knots. The other dress was made up of beautiful filigree patterns made from tambour work; a chain stitch effect created by stretching the muslin across a frame, and stitched with a tiny tambour hook.
The stitches I have been using in my creative work are centuries old. It’s a privilege to have time to learn and understand the effects of these stitches. I particularly liked the use of satin stitch to create shading, much like the shading I do when I paint watercolour.
October 12th 2005
Wednesday, 12 October, 2005 - 18:12
Project 1, Stage 4
I have enjoyed experimenting with mixed media, as it has given me the chance to start adapting my mindset in relation to what I’m used to. For many years I have painted and drawn as an artist, depicting objects, scenes, images etc. The exercises I did focused totally on using mixed media to “make marks”, to concentrate on depicting feelings and textures rather than real objects. I also noticed that the focus was not on pattern, and it took me some time to break away from thinking about objects in terms of pattern and instead to see them as textures and feelings.
I think it will take me some time to develop this new mindset, and so I intend to start sketching with “making marks” in mind in the future. For instance, if I visit the countryside I may do a wax rubbing of a tree trunk rather than draw the tree. I may capture patterns and textures on buildings rather than draw the whole building.
The media I enjoy the most are watercolour, ink, bleach and charcoal. I didn’t enjoy using the coloured pencils much but that might be because they were a cheap set and so didn’t work very well. I was particularly taken with the bleach because it separated the colours in the black ink and created lots of random patterns. When I was young I had a pot of old black Indian ink which used to separate into many colours just by using lots of water on the paper. I have tried to find a similar pot since then but haven’t managed to as yet. I love the textures created through ink colours separating.
I also enjoyed manipulating different types of paper to create texture, and using the bleach to create patterns in the coloured tissue paper. I found that it created textures very much like tree bark, but also very delicate. I’ve used teabags quite a lot in the past to dye paper and love the old colour it creates. I also enjoyed burning paper as I love to experiment in making objects look old and worn out.
During the past couple of weeks I’ve thought a lot about how I’m on a journey. The start of my journey has been about recognising that at the moment I feel I’m too much in control. I know the paintbrush too well, and I know the pencil too well and am too in control of what is going to happen. The reason I loved the bleach so much was that it started to tap into a chaotic and experimental side of me, where I let the medium create what it wanted and I enjoyed the surprise of seeing the end result. This seems to me to capture the essence of spontaneity and was very much how I used to work as an artist when I was around the age of 18. The exercises I did helped me in terms of this journey because I also had to work on an A3 sketch book. Over the last couple of years I have got used to drawing specific images in very small sketch books and not experimenting at all, so these exercises and the space to draw has really given me permission to start breaking boundaries. I enjoyed starting off by using the frame as specified in the exercises, but after a while I was happy to not use a frame at all.
I enjoyed making marks in relation to real objects the most. I find abstract concepts such as “sad” and “happy” can sometimes lead to quite clichéd looking marks and colours. But objects and textures are a powerful inspiration e.g. tree bark, pebbles.
I find that time is a real factor in terms of dampening creativity. At the moment I’m juggling so many things in my life that I find it difficult to concentrate fully on my creative work. And I know how important that is. There may not be a short term solution for this issue, but I think that doing a bit of sketching every day will be a great help.
Gordano Textile Artists exhibition, 10th Anniversary, Ashton Court – Bristol
Sunday, 25 September, 2005 - 19:35
George (Georgina Goodman, my best friend) and I visited the exhibition this afternoon. I was really looking forward to going, as I saw them exhibit there 2 years ago and was completely awe inspired by their work. This exhibition was absolutely stunning. The works gave me so many ideas, and I spent a long time looking through the sketch books. I find that I enjoy the sketch books much more than the finished works of art. There’s just so much creativity packed together, so many themes, colours, and many different ways of playin with media to create different effects.
I also love the room that the work is exhibited in. The walls have their own textures. The room is old and worn, and it enhances the pieces much more than a modern plain room would. It makes me realise how important the choice of exhibition space is.
After the exhibition, George and I discussed what we saw. We discussed how much textile work is about capturing memories, ingraining them into the paper. It seems so much that the act of creating a piece records the intangible emotions. I said to George that I saw a piece of work on a website last week which recorded conversations through the pieces of woven string.
Exhibition theme
There was no theme for the exhibition, but most of the artists were influenced by natural forms such as the sea or flora and fauna. There was a lot of natural colours and interpretation of textures in the natural world, e.g. stone patterns, leaves etc.
Explanation of exhibits
Some of the exhibits had words of poetry as their titles. The artist explained that the word itself was a sufficient choice to assist in adding to the inspiration around the piece. Some of the exhibits captured the thought processes behind the inspiration for the piece e.g. a woman using merino wool to create 3D profiles of faces. She said that the act of felting/ working with merino was the closest that she could get to being at one with the medium. It lends itself to whatever you are thinking in the moment.
Analysis of exhibit
This handbag was one of a number of handbags, all employing the theme of shapes inspired from nature. The functionality of the handbag is second place to the design itself here. I can see the inspiration from nature in the leaves. The artist has stitched beads around the edge of the leaves, and it looks like felt for the leaves themselves. Machine embroidery gives detail to the bag, and the merging of similar colours gives the whole piece a vibrant energy.
I like the idea of capturing tone, energy, emotions, words, thoughts in a piece of work. Also, remembering the time when you created the work is also bound into the final piece. e.g I’m working on a garden collage which has my memories of the summer and thoughts I was having about my partner woven into it.
After the exhibition, George and I went foraging for Autumn seeds. We collected lots of things, and I found that I was looking at the things I picked up in a different way after seeing how found objects were incorporated into sketch books at the exhibition e.g. rusty nails tied into material. I love rusty nails.
Logbook - Discovery of OCA
Monday, 19 September, 2005 - 19:29
I have just received my course folder for Textiles part 1, and am very excited about the whole course. Over the last year I’ve been thinking more and more about how important it is to make art a major part of my life, but I have struggled finding a way to do so. I was wondering how I could give up my job and go to college to study, but how would I still be able to have a mortgage? I couldn’t bear the thought of going into debt, but I just couldn’t work out a way to incorporate studying art with needing to work as well. Discovering OCA while surfing the internet was a real godsend. I was just about at my wit’s end when I found it. I feel like I’ve found the missing piece of the jigsaw, which means that I can now study and work. I can start my personal journey, building a degree in creative arts and I can put all my artistic self into a disciplined route of study. I feel like I’ve found my way at last! The course has also given me the confidence to look at my working life from a different perspective. I am currently looking to work part time so that I can create a healthy work-life balance, and have enough time to dedicate to my studies. It has also given me the motivation to earn less but have more time, because I know that the time will be used effectively to contribute to my degree. I am currently still working a 5 day week, but have applied to do a 4 day week... am not sure whether that will be accepted.
My artistic journey
I have always been on an artistic journey, and so in many ways there isn’t one to “start” on. But my fascination with textiles is a relatively recent thing. I started to crochet in 1997, and found immense therapeutic satisfaction in the act of crocheting. When I studied my OCN qualification in creative textiles last year, I was introduced to other textile media, and it opened up a whole new way of looking at textiles. I am very much drawn to textiles existing in their own right without needing a practical purpose. I am drawn to the purpose being simply to recreate emotions, memories, enjoyment. I am also drawn consistently to the fact that the act of creating is a therapeutic act. I would like to explore this further during my course of study.
My influences
My greatest influences are the beach and found items which I pick up when beachcombing. I also love the textures and colours found in rock formations, algae, beach flora etc. Another major current influence is my garden which I designed and created over the last year. As an artist, I am dedicated to the exploration of architecture. I haven’t yet related architecture to textiles in my personal work, but I did visit a local exhibition in Bristol which was about textiles and architecture. I was inspired by a piece of work which involved crochet and fired pieces of clay. It led me to thinking about textiles as a three dimensional form. I have recently been exploring how to create free-standing boxes from crochet and natural materials.
My hopes
My hope for the course is to continue my artistic journey, and to hone it to the discipline of a set course. I hope that the course will take me to places of artistic exploration that I haven’t considered before. I also hope that it will introduce me to media that I haven’t used before or haven’t used in a long time. Currently, I tend to work a lot using an ink pen and watercolour to capture my creative thought processes. I am excited by the idea of being invited to use other media such as coloured pencils, charcoal, gouache etc.
Weekend influences
I visited Porthcawl to see my family this weekend. I was really excited about going to the beach for the first time since I received my course material. It led me to thinking about my whole environment in relation to my studies, and now I am beginning to see patterns and colours everywhere all the time. It can be quite overwhelming! I took a pot for collecting, and picked up thing such as bladderwrack (cream coloured seaweed), shells and pebbles. I stuck some of them into my sketchbook at home, and did some detailed studies of the patterns and textures. I was amazed to find one pebble had a perfect white swirl in it.
My family have a beautiful garden, and so I took some time to explore this with my camera. I also picked some leaves to put into my garden sketch book.
My family
I introduced my family to the course I’m studying, and explained how the credit system works. I invited my dad and my nana to collect things for me, as they may be able to pick up bits and bobs that I may not have access to e.g. cut outs from magazines. My dad mentioned that he knows of a place to pick up green coloured “slag” from the quarry. I’m looking forward to that! My nana started straight away and gave me a piece from a magazine! I showed my parents my sketch books and textile pieces that I’ve been working on, and they thought they were very creative.
Monet and Light
Monday, 19 September, 2005 - 19:32
I was surprised to hear that Monet hung Japanese prints in his house which influenced his work. His work seems so far removed from detailed prints – I’ll have to look into this further. I noted that Monet said he wants to paint what he “feels” rather than what he sees. His subjects also seem to become an obsession – painting the cathedral over and over in order to capture the different light showing. The same with the seascape and with the water lilies. He painted them over and over, and he mentioned in his diaries about his desire to be at one with nature – a movement away from war into another world. Beautiful colours and impressions.
Hello...
Saturday, 17 September, 2005 - 17:17
Welcome to my website. Here, you can find a portfolio of my textile work, sketches and a record of my artistic journey.
