There was an excellent conference at the V&A on Friday "The Subversive Stitch Revisited: the Politics of Cloth.
I tried to use it in the wrong way, in that I wanted to take notes regarding each speaker, but it was not a series of lectures, it was a series of spoken papers on detailed subjects. I discovered it was impossible to take notes, as you needed to listen carefully to just keep up with what was being said. There were 3 x 2 hour sessions, each with a keynote speaker plus 3 further papers and a chaired discussion. The programme was overloaded, which was a pity as there were some excellent topics.
The speakers I enjoyed were Michael Bath from University of Glasgow, who spoke about the symbolism in Mary Queen of Scots embroideries, where a dolphin giving birth was indicating that Mary, widow of the French Dauphin, had given birth to a male heir (ie more than Elizabeth I had achieved). Matt Smith from University of Brighton spoke about the way the National Trust was researching family history in NT properties and recognising the significance of homosexual family members and including their partners in family trees. It had never occurred to me before that same-sex partners were ignored in genealogical family trees. Kimberley Lamm from Duke University spoke about The Sexual Stitch: Ghada Amer and the Affective Labour of Images. Finally, Anne Elizabeth Moore from the Ladydrawers Comic Collective displayed some excellent comic strips that provided a lot of statistics about women's presence in the Comic industry (ie under-represented) and the impact of textiles on women's employment. This could have been expanded to a 2 hour session on its own, and was brilliantly delivered, with witty cartoons making very pertinent points.
There was far too much packed into the day, and I was particularly niggled by the time-wasting speeches by the event organisers that waffled on for 30 minutes about paying homage to Rosika Parker, regurgitating history, and set the programme behind from the start! The interesting stuff about Cloth & Politics now, was crammed into tiny time slots, preventing meaty subjects being given the time they deserved. I hope the conference was deemed a success and that it will become an annual event, as there was so much potential for thought-provoking debate. It was just all too intense with 12 speakers in one day.
Saturday 30 November 2013
Thursday 28 November 2013
Alice Kettle at the V&A
What a wonderful lecture! Alice Kettle spoke about her slant on her own and others' work, considering the transformative power of thread.
Alice Kettle's work is largely figurative, and is heavily influenced by classical legends - Theseus and Ariadne; Odysseus and Helen; and the 3 Caryatids. She is very interested in how lines are used, and recommended the book "Lines: a brief history" by Tim Ingold. She referred to Picasso and how he used the 2D line, as an abstracted line. Klee investigated where line could take him "taking a line for a walk". Her stitched line is gestural, and therefore unpredictable. She wants to expand/challenge the nature of the line. Thread has a beginning and an end, a tensile nature. Stitchers can change the nature of the line by varying the route through.
Kettle trained as a painter and now uses thread to express her and her world. She sees it as two threads in conversation (as she is a machine embroiderer), affecting light, surface and 3D quality in pictorial and descriptive form. Machine embroidery allows the voice of thread, and facilitates a vocabulary of mark making. She works from both the back and front, varying the weight of the thread, the speed of fabric movement. She likens this to emulating the speed and movement of a pencil. She changes, reworks and reconstructs as she goes. Her work is about storytelling in a textile format. It is not flat on the wall or rigidly stretched on a frame. It floats against a wall, with ripples in the surface and uneven edges. This is the richness of life. She likes working big. Rhythmic repeated movement. Her style gives an unpredictable outcome. She works over mistakes. Mistakes are part of the uniqueness of layering and embroidery.
Much of Kettle's work goes to galleries. Commissions taken are usually site specific. Her latest piece for Winchester Cathedral was for a crypt that already had an ancient icon of Christ painted on the wall, so needed to be a soft, sensitive complement to the primary work of Christ already present. She also has recent work at the Scottish High Court. Staging this was considered, as she had been warned disgrunted people would walk past it as they left, so her embroidery is too high for anyone to set fire to it using a lighter. She has work in the Australian National Library which was inspired by the landscape.
Kettle's commission for Winchester Cathedral was "Looking forward to the past". This was created by working in public in an open Gallery. She was very nervous about revealing her working processes in public, and was astonished how supportive the general public were. She had so many dinner invitations that she ended up playing music to be able to work uninterrupted. This led to her having musicians offering free tapes of themselves playing, as publicity for them! The commission was to portray the history of the City of Winchester, but not in a chronological format. So she put together a patchwork of history to represent the city the way it is - history embedded, with ancient and modern all mixed up like the architecture of the city. It ended up being the biggest machine embroidery in the world, although she only had one year to complete the commission. She felt lost in the volume of work, but feels she stitched herself back together. Opened herself to possibilities and liberated herself by accepting the reconstructed roughness. Discovered the expanding line.
Considers machine embroidery like a heartbeat or a clock. Sees herself and her 3 daughters like the 4 seasons, each born in a different season.
Kettle has a fascination with hands. She has done a series of work about gloves. She likes the simplicity of gesture and line, and the indication of the hand of the maker. She has encompassed a shift in technology, and enjoys the consideration of where these changes take the maker. She is exploring digital stitch to interpret the expressive line. Digital technology is now amazing. She wants to develop digital technology from its function as accelerating production techniques to enabling expression. Therefore she uses digital technology to interpret hand drawing. She works with a Nottingham company using their specialist digital embroidery machines, and pushes the techniques, but is restricted by being wary about messing up their expensive kit. She wants to challenge best digital machine practice, but they are not her machines to experiment upon.
Currently, digital technology is used to repeat a motif well. She wants to use it so there is no repeated stitch. Currently people get trapped by the machine. She wants to get back to the nature of the thread, rather than the nature of the machine.
Kettle has done various collaborative projects. With CJ O'Neill she did a picnic set work. With Alex McErlain they did drawings in digital into fabrics. With Pushpa Kumari they used sari thread to draw a library of patterns. She also did the Sail and flags for the Olympiad Boat Project, which is now displayed at the Margate Turner Contemporary Gallery.
This was an absolutely wonderful lecture. It is interesting how different attendees use the information. The people on the V&A course, are largely older ladies, with a traditional approach to embroidery and tapestry, who appear to sit and listen, and enjoy, although some take detailed notes. Some of the younger ones like me, appear to be more interested in where embroidery is going, and take detailed notes of artist names, and use them to do artist research and take it further themselves. There are many right ways of using such a course as run by the V&A.
Alice Kettle's work is largely figurative, and is heavily influenced by classical legends - Theseus and Ariadne; Odysseus and Helen; and the 3 Caryatids. She is very interested in how lines are used, and recommended the book "Lines: a brief history" by Tim Ingold. She referred to Picasso and how he used the 2D line, as an abstracted line. Klee investigated where line could take him "taking a line for a walk". Her stitched line is gestural, and therefore unpredictable. She wants to expand/challenge the nature of the line. Thread has a beginning and an end, a tensile nature. Stitchers can change the nature of the line by varying the route through.
Kettle trained as a painter and now uses thread to express her and her world. She sees it as two threads in conversation (as she is a machine embroiderer), affecting light, surface and 3D quality in pictorial and descriptive form. Machine embroidery allows the voice of thread, and facilitates a vocabulary of mark making. She works from both the back and front, varying the weight of the thread, the speed of fabric movement. She likens this to emulating the speed and movement of a pencil. She changes, reworks and reconstructs as she goes. Her work is about storytelling in a textile format. It is not flat on the wall or rigidly stretched on a frame. It floats against a wall, with ripples in the surface and uneven edges. This is the richness of life. She likes working big. Rhythmic repeated movement. Her style gives an unpredictable outcome. She works over mistakes. Mistakes are part of the uniqueness of layering and embroidery.
Much of Kettle's work goes to galleries. Commissions taken are usually site specific. Her latest piece for Winchester Cathedral was for a crypt that already had an ancient icon of Christ painted on the wall, so needed to be a soft, sensitive complement to the primary work of Christ already present. She also has recent work at the Scottish High Court. Staging this was considered, as she had been warned disgrunted people would walk past it as they left, so her embroidery is too high for anyone to set fire to it using a lighter. She has work in the Australian National Library which was inspired by the landscape.
Kettle's commission for Winchester Cathedral was "Looking forward to the past". This was created by working in public in an open Gallery. She was very nervous about revealing her working processes in public, and was astonished how supportive the general public were. She had so many dinner invitations that she ended up playing music to be able to work uninterrupted. This led to her having musicians offering free tapes of themselves playing, as publicity for them! The commission was to portray the history of the City of Winchester, but not in a chronological format. So she put together a patchwork of history to represent the city the way it is - history embedded, with ancient and modern all mixed up like the architecture of the city. It ended up being the biggest machine embroidery in the world, although she only had one year to complete the commission. She felt lost in the volume of work, but feels she stitched herself back together. Opened herself to possibilities and liberated herself by accepting the reconstructed roughness. Discovered the expanding line.
Considers machine embroidery like a heartbeat or a clock. Sees herself and her 3 daughters like the 4 seasons, each born in a different season.
Kettle has a fascination with hands. She has done a series of work about gloves. She likes the simplicity of gesture and line, and the indication of the hand of the maker. She has encompassed a shift in technology, and enjoys the consideration of where these changes take the maker. She is exploring digital stitch to interpret the expressive line. Digital technology is now amazing. She wants to develop digital technology from its function as accelerating production techniques to enabling expression. Therefore she uses digital technology to interpret hand drawing. She works with a Nottingham company using their specialist digital embroidery machines, and pushes the techniques, but is restricted by being wary about messing up their expensive kit. She wants to challenge best digital machine practice, but they are not her machines to experiment upon.
Currently, digital technology is used to repeat a motif well. She wants to use it so there is no repeated stitch. Currently people get trapped by the machine. She wants to get back to the nature of the thread, rather than the nature of the machine.
Kettle has done various collaborative projects. With CJ O'Neill she did a picnic set work. With Alex McErlain they did drawings in digital into fabrics. With Pushpa Kumari they used sari thread to draw a library of patterns. She also did the Sail and flags for the Olympiad Boat Project, which is now displayed at the Margate Turner Contemporary Gallery.
This was an absolutely wonderful lecture. It is interesting how different attendees use the information. The people on the V&A course, are largely older ladies, with a traditional approach to embroidery and tapestry, who appear to sit and listen, and enjoy, although some take detailed notes. Some of the younger ones like me, appear to be more interested in where embroidery is going, and take detailed notes of artist names, and use them to do artist research and take it further themselves. There are many right ways of using such a course as run by the V&A.
Tuesday 26 November 2013
Cellophanes
I have been exploring the jam jar idea further. I am quite pleased with the outcomes of drawing on cellophane covers for jam jars. I have tried different pens (fine line markers .8 and .3, OHP pens, Sharpie markers, tippex pens, highlighter markers), and adding the jam label.
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| Cellophanes and waxed discs working to the lemon curd theme |
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| Using different pens, including yellow highlighter and gold marker to symbolise the lemons |
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| Getting a good line is more difficult with some pens, as the cellophanes slide around very easily |
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| Note the trembly hand! But I like the dimensionality of the holes. |
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| They look very different when piled up |
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| Showing a jam label attached too |
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| Only certain pens work on the plain side of waxed discs. Nothing works on the waxed side. |
Sunday 24 November 2013
Draw, Paint, Print
Another wonderful class at the City Lit. We were meant to be painting, using our previous prints as inspiration. I was very tired having been out every day this week, and thought I was going to have a disastrous day, but it was great.
I took a photocopy of the above prints, and tore out the imagery, so I had a template and a stencil. I used the stencil as a mask to create many repetitions of exactly the same shape. I used both sides of the stencil to give a little variation, as the handle then pointed to the right and left.
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| Last week's multi-layered mono print |
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| Single layer monoprint using lots of ink |
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| Single layer monoprint using overbrushed pre-used mono print |
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| Considering positioning of the multiples on a single sheet |
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| I am not very good with wet paint |
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| But I liked this image. |
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| Considering positioning of imagery in relation to each other The left is monoprint and collage, the right is painting |
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| Overlaid multiples |
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| I like these all together, and could see it developed as a half drop repeat print. |
A helpful team at Art Class
I had been struggling with my artwork for some time but today I had such a lovely time at class. This time Vanda got us drawing an object using fine line markers. I have done this a lot in my own style, but this time we sectioned a page into 4 using masking tape, and drew over the tape, so that what was left when the tape was removed, was a section of the object.
I was drawing a simple water tumbler. On the first image, it was a blank background, then the second had one random piece of found paper, the third had 2, and the fourth had 3.
Then we did the same exercise, adding a colour medium.
At lunchtime, as a group, we critiqued my unsuccessful jam jar work. Key points were:
Handwriting is not working. Information is important. Typescript is anonymous and would support focus on message, not handwriting.
Measure in either minutes or hours. Or seconds. Do not combine measures.
Bar code. Lines of type to link with a barcode.
Blow up bar code to grainy. Look up up bar code art.
Are you measuring product or labour?
Consider different fonts. Recipe books fonts from Mrs Beeton.
Match script quality to drawing quality. (This is a compliment!!)
Labels.
Long line on tape.
Consider message/meaning.
How to label?
Tape?
Stuck on?
Tie on?
Barcode?
What is the message off labelling?
Bar code size.
Exquisitely effective
Consider an implement normally kept hidden in process
Waxed discs and cellophanes
Work on circles.
Positioning of images
Don't pink edges
Pieced fabric
Creases look good (!) so they can be seen to have been used
Just the jar covers
Display as a grid
Right number of jars
Batch numbers
Grid of cellophanes on wall plus one empty jar.
Consider Time
Multiples
Non-decorative
Medals
Badge of honour
Words for heroes
Label in the form of a medal
Jam font
Jam lids and labels
Get square sketchbook
Draw lots of labels.
Thank you team! You are heroes for sharing so freely!!
I was drawing a simple water tumbler. On the first image, it was a blank background, then the second had one random piece of found paper, the third had 2, and the fourth had 3.
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| All four shown together |
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| .8 fine liner on plain paper |
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| .8 marker with one piece of found paper |
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| .3 marker with two pieces of found paper |
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| .3 marker with 3 pieces of found paper |
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| .3 fine line marker |
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| With yellow acrylic paint |
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| With red watercolour |
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| With blue acrylic paint |
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| With a piece of torn found paper. Atlas sea map is a good link with a water glass. |
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| Watercolour wash over white crayon |
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| With a tiny wash of grey |
Handwriting is not working. Information is important. Typescript is anonymous and would support focus on message, not handwriting.
Measure in either minutes or hours. Or seconds. Do not combine measures.
Bar code. Lines of type to link with a barcode.
Blow up bar code to grainy. Look up up bar code art.
Are you measuring product or labour?
Consider different fonts. Recipe books fonts from Mrs Beeton.
Match script quality to drawing quality. (This is a compliment!!)
Labels.
Long line on tape.
Consider message/meaning.
How to label?
Tape?
Stuck on?
Tie on?
Barcode?
What is the message off labelling?
Bar code size.
Exquisitely effective
Consider an implement normally kept hidden in process
Waxed discs and cellophanes
Work on circles.
Positioning of images
Don't pink edges
Pieced fabric
Creases look good (!) so they can be seen to have been used
Just the jar covers
Display as a grid
Right number of jars
Batch numbers
Grid of cellophanes on wall plus one empty jar.
Consider Time
Multiples
Non-decorative
Medals
Badge of honour
Words for heroes
Label in the form of a medal
Jam font
Jam lids and labels
Get square sketchbook
Draw lots of labels.
Thank you team! You are heroes for sharing so freely!!
Hand & Lock at the V&A
On Wednesday I went to the most fantastic lecture by Hand & Lock at the V&A. Hand & Lock are the top bespoke embroiders in London (probably the UK). They did commissions for the Royal Pageant at the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. They do traditional ceremonial, couture, fashion and theatre commissions.
Alistair McLeod is their Commercial Director, and Scott Heron is their Head Designer. Alistair McLeod started as a tailor and moved from tailoring to military embroidery, then moved to Hand & Lock. To be successful in this field, you need SKILL, CREATIVITY and TECHNICAL SKILLS. He showed various examples of their work, such as the Beatles Sergeant Pepper uniforms, and Isabella Blow work. He was quite clear that artists design, and embroiders copy. These are different skills. Embroidery makes art permanent. When colour could not be fixed well, embroidery was used to make the design permanent. Crewel embroidery was popular because it did not beat up the fabric. Conveyed a colour design well, without destroying the ground fabric.
Henry VIII had a big impact on embroidery. In 1349 the Black Death reduced London population by 50% and the population of working embroiderers was decimated. Embroidery was important at court to display status. Therefore he started an embroidery workshop in the Tower of London. Pins were very valuable as a tool of a skilled person. Pins tended to only be sold for one or two days of the year, and were quite often given as gifts on 1st or 2nd January for the New Year. Pin money was an allowance given by a husband for a woman's pins. Often formed dowry money for a trousseau. Also most clothes were pinned on, and were made from a single length of cloth.
There were only 4 roles allowed for noble women at court - to sing, dance, sew or embroider. Needle skills were essential at the Tudor court. Women who sewed made functional objects, whereas embroiderers decorated. Mary Queen of Scots had a privileged childhood, Elizabeth I had an appalling childhood (declared illegitimate), and although they did not meet, they both embroidered in line with their status as daughter of the king.
Hand & Lock run an Embroidery Design Prize. Previous winners are Janice Marr 2001; Louise Randall 2002; Joanne Shand 2003; Laura Shambrook 2004; Emma Crinnon 2005; Heidi Turner 2006; Tatiana Pogrebnyak 2007; Maria La Vignia 2008; Beatrice Newman 2009; Lucy Bourreau 2009; Flett Bertram 2010; Beata Kania 2010; Karen Teresi 2011; Sophie Carr 2011; Lena Balsac 2012; Peta Canya 2012; Claire Morris 2013. The judging is done live and visitors are allowed. This award keeps fashion and textile students' work alive and relevant and encourages them to break the rules. It educates about how to judge - which is all about the WOW factor. Entries are accepted for all objects, but tends towards garments. Works take 3-6 seconds to sell. They must be technically good - or end up in the bargain basement.
For the future: Embroidery embellishes surfaces. Garments, furniture or walls. DESIGN IS KEY. UK embroidery controls design and creativity. Embroiders replicate what an artist thinks therefore we need to continue embroidery skills to understand the design needs.
Scott Heron is the Head Designer, graduated from Nottingham Trent University and deals with clients and markets. He said the Diamond Jubilee was an interesting project. Ceremonial context, requiring traditional techniques and lots of goldwork. Not technically possible for a chair with traditional goldwork to be sat in, so therefore lots of silks and applique was used utilising stumpwork, padding and relief. Essential for colours to be correct. Hand & Lock did the embroidery for the thrones and banners. Coronation robes had wheat sheaves and laurel leaves so these were used for the banners on the Royal Barge and were done in applique using padded cloth of gold. It was essential that all aspects of heraldic symbolism were correct, so they worked with the Royal College of Arms.
Scott said his was to take ideas and concepts into embroidery. More than just replicating artwork. Stitch direction was very important and he showed some working designs that were annotated with techniques, colours and stitch directions. This is the preparatory work for 3D effects. The lion's eye used stitches of the same size and style, but the directionality gave the moulding.
Robbie Williams at the Diamond Jubilee concerts work a military themed outfit. He had a monogram of RW on the collar and embroidered ribbons on the cuffs. This was traditional gold work, used in a modern context. He is from Staffordshire, so a staffordshire knot fitted his heritage. Paul McCartney also had a military style outfit with goldwork growns on his buttons and laurel leaves on the cuff and collar.
Hand & Lock have also had a recent commission from the Ulster Defence Regiment. Their banner is a single sheet of fabric, with a double sided design. It is worked vertically with two people sewing using one needle. The needle is passed from one side to the other, to ensure the design is correct on both sides.
Another recent commission is the Gilbert & George chair. Made in goldwork, and very bold and stylised, while being modern at the same time. A chair injecting an artefact with goldwork embroidery. Hand & Lock have also done Prince William's Order of the Thistle ceremonial robes, and had to work with Ede & Ravenscroft to update the wording on the artwork. They made silk pyjamas for Olivia Von Halle - clientele like to be playful. They have made Jimmy Choo's scorpion shoes, and Christopher Cain's Frankenstein shoes, using digital embroidery.
Hand and Lock attend New Designers. This is consumer level embroidery, where embroidery moves from stitch to object.
At the end, I asked Scott who he would choose as a commissioning customer. He would like to work for Damien Hirst, as he pushes boundaries and gets "meaning" into the work in an innovative way. I asked how Hand & Lock use New Designers. For them, it is a reflection on industry; it identifies up and coming designers. They can identify people who might be suitable for Hand & Lock or other creative industries, and do a lot of networking.
One of the best lectures yet. And I told Scott I wished him a creative and profitable career. This surprised and delighted him.
Alistair McLeod is their Commercial Director, and Scott Heron is their Head Designer. Alistair McLeod started as a tailor and moved from tailoring to military embroidery, then moved to Hand & Lock. To be successful in this field, you need SKILL, CREATIVITY and TECHNICAL SKILLS. He showed various examples of their work, such as the Beatles Sergeant Pepper uniforms, and Isabella Blow work. He was quite clear that artists design, and embroiders copy. These are different skills. Embroidery makes art permanent. When colour could not be fixed well, embroidery was used to make the design permanent. Crewel embroidery was popular because it did not beat up the fabric. Conveyed a colour design well, without destroying the ground fabric.
Henry VIII had a big impact on embroidery. In 1349 the Black Death reduced London population by 50% and the population of working embroiderers was decimated. Embroidery was important at court to display status. Therefore he started an embroidery workshop in the Tower of London. Pins were very valuable as a tool of a skilled person. Pins tended to only be sold for one or two days of the year, and were quite often given as gifts on 1st or 2nd January for the New Year. Pin money was an allowance given by a husband for a woman's pins. Often formed dowry money for a trousseau. Also most clothes were pinned on, and were made from a single length of cloth.
There were only 4 roles allowed for noble women at court - to sing, dance, sew or embroider. Needle skills were essential at the Tudor court. Women who sewed made functional objects, whereas embroiderers decorated. Mary Queen of Scots had a privileged childhood, Elizabeth I had an appalling childhood (declared illegitimate), and although they did not meet, they both embroidered in line with their status as daughter of the king.
Hand & Lock run an Embroidery Design Prize. Previous winners are Janice Marr 2001; Louise Randall 2002; Joanne Shand 2003; Laura Shambrook 2004; Emma Crinnon 2005; Heidi Turner 2006; Tatiana Pogrebnyak 2007; Maria La Vignia 2008; Beatrice Newman 2009; Lucy Bourreau 2009; Flett Bertram 2010; Beata Kania 2010; Karen Teresi 2011; Sophie Carr 2011; Lena Balsac 2012; Peta Canya 2012; Claire Morris 2013. The judging is done live and visitors are allowed. This award keeps fashion and textile students' work alive and relevant and encourages them to break the rules. It educates about how to judge - which is all about the WOW factor. Entries are accepted for all objects, but tends towards garments. Works take 3-6 seconds to sell. They must be technically good - or end up in the bargain basement.
For the future: Embroidery embellishes surfaces. Garments, furniture or walls. DESIGN IS KEY. UK embroidery controls design and creativity. Embroiders replicate what an artist thinks therefore we need to continue embroidery skills to understand the design needs.
Scott Heron is the Head Designer, graduated from Nottingham Trent University and deals with clients and markets. He said the Diamond Jubilee was an interesting project. Ceremonial context, requiring traditional techniques and lots of goldwork. Not technically possible for a chair with traditional goldwork to be sat in, so therefore lots of silks and applique was used utilising stumpwork, padding and relief. Essential for colours to be correct. Hand & Lock did the embroidery for the thrones and banners. Coronation robes had wheat sheaves and laurel leaves so these were used for the banners on the Royal Barge and were done in applique using padded cloth of gold. It was essential that all aspects of heraldic symbolism were correct, so they worked with the Royal College of Arms.
Scott said his was to take ideas and concepts into embroidery. More than just replicating artwork. Stitch direction was very important and he showed some working designs that were annotated with techniques, colours and stitch directions. This is the preparatory work for 3D effects. The lion's eye used stitches of the same size and style, but the directionality gave the moulding.
Robbie Williams at the Diamond Jubilee concerts work a military themed outfit. He had a monogram of RW on the collar and embroidered ribbons on the cuffs. This was traditional gold work, used in a modern context. He is from Staffordshire, so a staffordshire knot fitted his heritage. Paul McCartney also had a military style outfit with goldwork growns on his buttons and laurel leaves on the cuff and collar.
Hand & Lock have also had a recent commission from the Ulster Defence Regiment. Their banner is a single sheet of fabric, with a double sided design. It is worked vertically with two people sewing using one needle. The needle is passed from one side to the other, to ensure the design is correct on both sides.
Another recent commission is the Gilbert & George chair. Made in goldwork, and very bold and stylised, while being modern at the same time. A chair injecting an artefact with goldwork embroidery. Hand & Lock have also done Prince William's Order of the Thistle ceremonial robes, and had to work with Ede & Ravenscroft to update the wording on the artwork. They made silk pyjamas for Olivia Von Halle - clientele like to be playful. They have made Jimmy Choo's scorpion shoes, and Christopher Cain's Frankenstein shoes, using digital embroidery.
Hand and Lock attend New Designers. This is consumer level embroidery, where embroidery moves from stitch to object.
At the end, I asked Scott who he would choose as a commissioning customer. He would like to work for Damien Hirst, as he pushes boundaries and gets "meaning" into the work in an innovative way. I asked how Hand & Lock use New Designers. For them, it is a reflection on industry; it identifies up and coming designers. They can identify people who might be suitable for Hand & Lock or other creative industries, and do a lot of networking.
One of the best lectures yet. And I told Scott I wished him a creative and profitable career. This surprised and delighted him.
Wednesday 20 November 2013
Maybe I am trying too hard?
I had another day at class where things just did not come together well. I had been working on the jam jars, trying out different ways of using the hand made labels. They just don't really do it for me. Ok, but not brilliant. Not punchy enough and the message is unclear.
I had my second tutorial with Steve. He made some valid points, but unfortunately I don't have the answers to the questions he raised.
Statement artwork needs time incorporated into the work. Decorative artwork does not. Time is not apparent in my drawing. When working in polemic (political stance/narrative) it needs to show you have worked with it, or the audience can just reflect upon it. I am not a banner waver, but I'm not sure what I am trying to achieve.
Some artists are making a statement via process (eg Caren Garfen and Caroline Bartlett, in Cloth & Stitch at Salts Mill) but I am not doing process art. Their work is very time consuming and this is part of their message. Mine is not about time consuming process. Own work is not labour intensive.
Find a site. Find ephemera associated with the site and work with this. Does text come into it? Women's letters. Women's shopping lists.
Use what is important to make it more relevant/powerful.
Represent servitude via tools/hours. (I thought I had done this with the Yokes piece last year).
Choose items with symbolism. Reflect on Yokes and invest current work with that feel. Look at other artists' existing material to gain power.
Draw different images. Current images selected are not good enough.
Use text. Don't be too literal. Shopping list and its provenance
Not impressed with sketches of gloves. Suggested I draw several different garments and draw in different linings. Marry man's coat with women's imagery on lining and vice versa.
Feeling quite downhearted. Just as well I am not staying in to dwell on it today. Going to V&A to hear Alice Kettle speak about her practice, then Jim and I are meeting up to go to see Strangers on a Train at the Gielgud Theatre with Laurence Fox, Jack Huston and Imogen Stubbs.
I had my second tutorial with Steve. He made some valid points, but unfortunately I don't have the answers to the questions he raised.
Statement artwork needs time incorporated into the work. Decorative artwork does not. Time is not apparent in my drawing. When working in polemic (political stance/narrative) it needs to show you have worked with it, or the audience can just reflect upon it. I am not a banner waver, but I'm not sure what I am trying to achieve.
Some artists are making a statement via process (eg Caren Garfen and Caroline Bartlett, in Cloth & Stitch at Salts Mill) but I am not doing process art. Their work is very time consuming and this is part of their message. Mine is not about time consuming process. Own work is not labour intensive.
Find a site. Find ephemera associated with the site and work with this. Does text come into it? Women's letters. Women's shopping lists.
Use what is important to make it more relevant/powerful.
Represent servitude via tools/hours. (I thought I had done this with the Yokes piece last year).
Choose items with symbolism. Reflect on Yokes and invest current work with that feel. Look at other artists' existing material to gain power.
Draw different images. Current images selected are not good enough.
Use text. Don't be too literal. Shopping list and its provenance
Not impressed with sketches of gloves. Suggested I draw several different garments and draw in different linings. Marry man's coat with women's imagery on lining and vice versa.
Feeling quite downhearted. Just as well I am not staying in to dwell on it today. Going to V&A to hear Alice Kettle speak about her practice, then Jim and I are meeting up to go to see Strangers on a Train at the Gielgud Theatre with Laurence Fox, Jack Huston and Imogen Stubbs.
Sunday 17 November 2013
On the Up
I have had a good couple of days. I went to the City Lit for my second Draw, Paint, Print class.
I had a truly wonderful time. I worked from last week's drawings of a chip frying basket. This week we were working in mono print and I had a very successful drawing session. It was the first time I was using an oil based printing medium, and it worked very well. We had not only black paint, but red, yellow and blue, so I could blend a warm black, and we were working with a tiny (inadequate) amount of thinners, so this impacted (surprisingly successfully) with my outcomes.
In the morning I painted 5 different versions of the frying basket, using additive and reductive techniques, mostly building up several layers of print. In the afternoon I did 3 versions of a hot drinks flask, using multiple layers in one, and one layer print in the other two. They would work very well as a digital textile print.
Today Jim and I went for a bike ride, and I thought about the difference between making an object and making something about the object. In my case, this is about mincemeat. I have made another batch of mincemeat, anticipating making a dozen or so jars, to cover with the jam jar covers. Yet now, on reflection, I think if the jars are full, the artwork message is about mincemeat. But what I want to focus on is the amount of time it takes to make it, and how the labour is unseen. So It would have actually more impact, if the jars were empty, but had a hand made jam jar cover, a tie, and a label. Instead of ingredients, the label could have a breakdown of the time involved. And in many ways, it alleviates potential problems, as if the jars were full, people might want to buy them, and then I would need to comply with legislation regarding ingredient labels. It has taken me a while to grasp the difference between artworks of a subject, and about a subject, but I think I have mastered it!
Now it is time to sit and cut out jam jar covers! And in the meantime, we might have to just eat the mincemeat!
I had a truly wonderful time. I worked from last week's drawings of a chip frying basket. This week we were working in mono print and I had a very successful drawing session. It was the first time I was using an oil based printing medium, and it worked very well. We had not only black paint, but red, yellow and blue, so I could blend a warm black, and we were working with a tiny (inadequate) amount of thinners, so this impacted (surprisingly successfully) with my outcomes.
In the morning I painted 5 different versions of the frying basket, using additive and reductive techniques, mostly building up several layers of print. In the afternoon I did 3 versions of a hot drinks flask, using multiple layers in one, and one layer print in the other two. They would work very well as a digital textile print.
Today Jim and I went for a bike ride, and I thought about the difference between making an object and making something about the object. In my case, this is about mincemeat. I have made another batch of mincemeat, anticipating making a dozen or so jars, to cover with the jam jar covers. Yet now, on reflection, I think if the jars are full, the artwork message is about mincemeat. But what I want to focus on is the amount of time it takes to make it, and how the labour is unseen. So It would have actually more impact, if the jars were empty, but had a hand made jam jar cover, a tie, and a label. Instead of ingredients, the label could have a breakdown of the time involved. And in many ways, it alleviates potential problems, as if the jars were full, people might want to buy them, and then I would need to comply with legislation regarding ingredient labels. It has taken me a while to grasp the difference between artworks of a subject, and about a subject, but I think I have mastered it!
Now it is time to sit and cut out jam jar covers! And in the meantime, we might have to just eat the mincemeat!
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| The monochrome images for the mincemeat lids |
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| Measuring the colour versions for marmalade |
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| Pinking my way around the jam jar covers |
Friday 15 November 2013
Back at class
Feeling better today, so went to class to collect my jam jar lids. I steamed them to set the print. I was very pleased with them. The Mincemeat lids are a bit small, and show I need more confidence to give them space to breathe, when spacing them in Photoshop. The Marmalade lids were absolutely joyful. I like orange and I had set the imagery a bit larger and better spacing between. I live and learn!
I reflected on the stretcher frames I made up yesterday. The monochrome prints are coming out with some background colour. I was advised to try using the greyscale command on Photoshop to see if I can make the imagery come out as just black and white tonal variation. They work better when the drawing is the actual size of the object, and the size of the print is the size of the drawing. The marks made by the fine line marker look best when they are actual size. These lines do not enlarge well in my view.
I had been thinking about the product of jam and mincemeat. I will try out the lids on filled pots, but I don't want to sell them as products. So do the pots need to be full? What is the message if the pot is empty? Or if a pile of covers next to an empty jar. Does this imply the amount of work approaching for the maker? Or one pot with a pile of lids on top? What is the function of the jam jar cover? How does it get attached? Elastic band? Or ribbon, string? Own printed ties? (Look at Shelley Goldsmith printed ribbons). There is a difference between making the item (after all, I am not a member of the WI!) and making an artwork about the item.
Samples are often the most interesting work that makers create. There is often an energy and freedom about them, because the maker has not worried about what other people think, or how good/well made/professional it needs to be. At under-graduate level, the finishing does not need to be perfect - it is the idea and effective application that are important. Designers need to come up with a finished product. I know I am not a designer. I am more of a thinker (!). I believe it is ok for thinkers to produce samples - and then use/display them imaginatively to find out what response the pieces provoke in others.
Helen Carnac refers to "resting points" for her work, which is then beautifully displayed. When I make work, I often spend a lot of time looking at them, and conclude "I haven't finished thinking yet". Maybe this is because I have reached a resting point, but not a finishing point.
I know I dislike things that are symmetrical, and that I like drawings of part of an object because they are asymmetric. Maybe I need to work out how to isolate the important part of my subject and focus on that. What is the important part? The part of the theme/concept? The part of what I have drawn? The object I make because of its symbolic representation? What is the function of stitch for me? Stitch can add colour and texture, can provide comment, and can join and add substance. I use stitch to add colour, definition and to add comment. Rarely do I use it for texture or joining.
Draw, print, make, remake. Photograph in various ways and add to work. Attach photos to samples in some way that tells the story of experimentation. Identify what the message is.
Drawing and printing is quite quick (compared to stitch and knit). Create lots and move on.
My yokes worked well. Possibly because they were a series of 5? My heritage is partly about my Dad's 4 sisters. Can I bring them into my work. Each of them had a particular skill - Lily was the best flower arranger; Joan was a fantastic (but FANTASTIC) knitter; Audrey was the dressmaker and Doreen was the cook. Consequently they all have worn, arthritic hands. I love hands and the manual work they do. The manual work done by hands could be represented on gloves. I could do a series of artworks on sets of gloves. Five, to represent Dad's sisters, plus me as his daughter. Household gloves could be rubber; cotton; linen; oven; gardening ....
Consider gloves further. Make some forms eg white linen gloves. How are textiles used as a functional item? Add to gloves (like yokes pieces) image/stitch/relevant words/numbers. Consider creating gloves from 5 different materials, or use one material and make 5 different forms. Use a familiar object (eg glove) with my own story/message. Display pegged to wall as my Aunts used to store their rubber gloves, pegged to inside of cleaning cupboard door.
I am not making an object - I am making something to represent the wisdom; a manifestation of heritage. Need to look up Tracy Chevalier Quilting book that refers to passing on skills and knowledge in female context/forms. Also Things My Mother Told Me.
Plenty to be going on with!
I reflected on the stretcher frames I made up yesterday. The monochrome prints are coming out with some background colour. I was advised to try using the greyscale command on Photoshop to see if I can make the imagery come out as just black and white tonal variation. They work better when the drawing is the actual size of the object, and the size of the print is the size of the drawing. The marks made by the fine line marker look best when they are actual size. These lines do not enlarge well in my view.
I had been thinking about the product of jam and mincemeat. I will try out the lids on filled pots, but I don't want to sell them as products. So do the pots need to be full? What is the message if the pot is empty? Or if a pile of covers next to an empty jar. Does this imply the amount of work approaching for the maker? Or one pot with a pile of lids on top? What is the function of the jam jar cover? How does it get attached? Elastic band? Or ribbon, string? Own printed ties? (Look at Shelley Goldsmith printed ribbons). There is a difference between making the item (after all, I am not a member of the WI!) and making an artwork about the item.
Samples are often the most interesting work that makers create. There is often an energy and freedom about them, because the maker has not worried about what other people think, or how good/well made/professional it needs to be. At under-graduate level, the finishing does not need to be perfect - it is the idea and effective application that are important. Designers need to come up with a finished product. I know I am not a designer. I am more of a thinker (!). I believe it is ok for thinkers to produce samples - and then use/display them imaginatively to find out what response the pieces provoke in others.
Helen Carnac refers to "resting points" for her work, which is then beautifully displayed. When I make work, I often spend a lot of time looking at them, and conclude "I haven't finished thinking yet". Maybe this is because I have reached a resting point, but not a finishing point.
I know I dislike things that are symmetrical, and that I like drawings of part of an object because they are asymmetric. Maybe I need to work out how to isolate the important part of my subject and focus on that. What is the important part? The part of the theme/concept? The part of what I have drawn? The object I make because of its symbolic representation? What is the function of stitch for me? Stitch can add colour and texture, can provide comment, and can join and add substance. I use stitch to add colour, definition and to add comment. Rarely do I use it for texture or joining.
Draw, print, make, remake. Photograph in various ways and add to work. Attach photos to samples in some way that tells the story of experimentation. Identify what the message is.
Drawing and printing is quite quick (compared to stitch and knit). Create lots and move on.
My yokes worked well. Possibly because they were a series of 5? My heritage is partly about my Dad's 4 sisters. Can I bring them into my work. Each of them had a particular skill - Lily was the best flower arranger; Joan was a fantastic (but FANTASTIC) knitter; Audrey was the dressmaker and Doreen was the cook. Consequently they all have worn, arthritic hands. I love hands and the manual work they do. The manual work done by hands could be represented on gloves. I could do a series of artworks on sets of gloves. Five, to represent Dad's sisters, plus me as his daughter. Household gloves could be rubber; cotton; linen; oven; gardening ....
Consider gloves further. Make some forms eg white linen gloves. How are textiles used as a functional item? Add to gloves (like yokes pieces) image/stitch/relevant words/numbers. Consider creating gloves from 5 different materials, or use one material and make 5 different forms. Use a familiar object (eg glove) with my own story/message. Display pegged to wall as my Aunts used to store their rubber gloves, pegged to inside of cleaning cupboard door.
I am not making an object - I am making something to represent the wisdom; a manifestation of heritage. Need to look up Tracy Chevalier Quilting book that refers to passing on skills and knowledge in female context/forms. Also Things My Mother Told Me.
Plenty to be going on with!
Thursday 14 November 2013
Full of the cold
Yesterday I felt dreadful - full of a cold, feeling really rough. I spent all day indoors, but pushed myself to work.
I stripped some 12" stretcher frames so they are ready for new imagery. I did not make them up as I felt too weak to use the staple gun, which requires a vice-like grip. I thought about several collections of work that I could make, and sketched them in my sketchbook. I have the Mincemeat Collection (after Edmund du Waal); the Part of the Furniture Collection (upholstery of ercol settee and cook's chair); the Kitchen Utensil Collection (single captioned images on stretcher frames); the Linings Collection (single/repeat patterns used to line old garments to play on how Women's work supports and improves experience while being largely unseen); the Crockery Collection (placing imagery on crockery where it will only be seen imtermittently ie largely unseen eg on inside of a cup); and the Dress Collection (selective placement of imagery on fabric to create a dress to wear at the exhibition, so I can be identified with my work). I think 6 collections is enough to be going on with!!
Today I have woken up feeling a lot brighter. It is only when I feel better that I realise just how rough I felt.
Further analysis of each collections shows:
Mincemeat Collection - one small image, shown as a multiple
Part of the Furniture Collection - several large images, shown together
Kitchen Utensil Collection - single medium sized images, shown together
Linings Collection - large images, partially visible
Crockery Collection - small individual images, shown together
Dress Collection - large images in combination.
Plan for today is to make more mincemeat, ready for the jam jar covers to be fitted tomorrow, when I collect the fabric from class; and more drawing! Onward and upward.
I stripped some 12" stretcher frames so they are ready for new imagery. I did not make them up as I felt too weak to use the staple gun, which requires a vice-like grip. I thought about several collections of work that I could make, and sketched them in my sketchbook. I have the Mincemeat Collection (after Edmund du Waal); the Part of the Furniture Collection (upholstery of ercol settee and cook's chair); the Kitchen Utensil Collection (single captioned images on stretcher frames); the Linings Collection (single/repeat patterns used to line old garments to play on how Women's work supports and improves experience while being largely unseen); the Crockery Collection (placing imagery on crockery where it will only be seen imtermittently ie largely unseen eg on inside of a cup); and the Dress Collection (selective placement of imagery on fabric to create a dress to wear at the exhibition, so I can be identified with my work). I think 6 collections is enough to be going on with!!
Today I have woken up feeling a lot brighter. It is only when I feel better that I realise just how rough I felt.
Further analysis of each collections shows:
Mincemeat Collection - one small image, shown as a multiple
Part of the Furniture Collection - several large images, shown together
Kitchen Utensil Collection - single medium sized images, shown together
Linings Collection - large images, partially visible
Crockery Collection - small individual images, shown together
Dress Collection - large images in combination.
Plan for today is to make more mincemeat, ready for the jam jar covers to be fitted tomorrow, when I collect the fabric from class; and more drawing! Onward and upward.
Wednesday 13 November 2013
Peaks and Troughs
On Monday I went to class and put my fine line drawings into photoshop. This went surprisingly well, and I set up a piece for digital print, 1.5m long. It looked quite good coming off the printer. It was 9 images, positioned to be cut up into panels to be mounted on stretcher frames, with a little hand embroidery to comment on the item. For example on the pyrex jug, I thought I would stitch "A cook's jug is always half full".
Then I was thinking about Edmund du Waal's programme about his pots, and the way in which they were set up on shelves. I wondered about a row of pots of mincemeat, or marmalade. So I started by taking my mincemeat and marmalade drawings and setting up a digital print to produce fabric jam jar covers. I have thought about how to present them. In a 1950s kitchen cupboard ("maid saver"), with every shelf absolutely stuffed full of preserves? On an open shelf? On several open shelves? Tightly packed or spaced? On a window sill? Edmund du Waal had a display of pots at the V&A where they were sited on a high window sill, so they were in silhouette. My next class with Vanda is next week, and if I could get the fabric printed, finished, and cut, I could make up a set of jars, add the pot covers, and place them on the window sill behind where I sit, and see if the rest of the class spot them. I had considerable good feedback from the class with the yokes, because of their simplicity, and I would be interested to see what response the jars get. I am feel very strongly about publicising the knowledge and work of women, but I am not sure other people will get it.
I washed the 1.5m length of cloth, ironed it and was surveying it to work out what text each piece needed. Someone said to me that I should not cut it up, as it worked as a length. For some reason, this really irritated me. What am I meant to do with it? Save it whole and put it in a drawer? Display it whole on a wall? Then I had feedback that I could use the fabric as it was, with big spaces between the drawings, to make a dress. (Except I only have 1.5m and my dress pattern takes 4 3/8 yards!) I could see it would make a lovely novelty lining fabric, and part of the appeal is that the motifs are large and well spaced. But I have been thinking about using single images, set within a large amount of space. Space used to terrify me, so use of space is something I need to practice. And then to be told to go back to repeats, threw me off course. I also found it annoying to be told I need to get on with making. I know this full well. But with the conflicting feedback over the last few weeks, I had realised I needed to handle cloth to get the thought process going again, and having identified some simple panels to make, to reflect on use of space, I found it annoying to have my ideas rubbished (again!), told to get on with making, then told to stop wasting time making single image objects, and do something different (again!). I was given lots of ideas on how to use my drawings on dress fabric to make unique dresses. But I am not a dressmaker. I am not a fashion student. I am not an experienced patternmaker making repeat patterns using photoshop, and neither do I want to be. The trouble with keep changing direction, is that you end up going round in circles .... unproductively. I was seriously hacked off.
Yesterday evening Jim and I went to see Vanda's MA show. The University of Herts Applied Arts MA students had organised to show their work at the Mile End Art Pavilion. It was good to see their work. A lot of it was very conceptual and a bit beyond me. I used my time there to consider the staging. Space was used to good effect. I noted Vanda had displayed her sheer textile works against a painted grey panel (when staging, sometimes you need to bring your own paint!). It was good to see other people's work and lifted my spirits. I was able to laugh with Vanda and this was what I needed. I looked at Marian Murphy's work "Lists", and this morning, decided that making some lists might be good for my work too. I have got ideas, and maybe with my high literacy levels, what I need is a visual list to work through.
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| Three images per width of fabric |
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| Half printed mixer |
Then I was thinking about Edmund du Waal's programme about his pots, and the way in which they were set up on shelves. I wondered about a row of pots of mincemeat, or marmalade. So I started by taking my mincemeat and marmalade drawings and setting up a digital print to produce fabric jam jar covers. I have thought about how to present them. In a 1950s kitchen cupboard ("maid saver"), with every shelf absolutely stuffed full of preserves? On an open shelf? On several open shelves? Tightly packed or spaced? On a window sill? Edmund du Waal had a display of pots at the V&A where they were sited on a high window sill, so they were in silhouette. My next class with Vanda is next week, and if I could get the fabric printed, finished, and cut, I could make up a set of jars, add the pot covers, and place them on the window sill behind where I sit, and see if the rest of the class spot them. I had considerable good feedback from the class with the yokes, because of their simplicity, and I would be interested to see what response the jars get. I am feel very strongly about publicising the knowledge and work of women, but I am not sure other people will get it.
I washed the 1.5m length of cloth, ironed it and was surveying it to work out what text each piece needed. Someone said to me that I should not cut it up, as it worked as a length. For some reason, this really irritated me. What am I meant to do with it? Save it whole and put it in a drawer? Display it whole on a wall? Then I had feedback that I could use the fabric as it was, with big spaces between the drawings, to make a dress. (Except I only have 1.5m and my dress pattern takes 4 3/8 yards!) I could see it would make a lovely novelty lining fabric, and part of the appeal is that the motifs are large and well spaced. But I have been thinking about using single images, set within a large amount of space. Space used to terrify me, so use of space is something I need to practice. And then to be told to go back to repeats, threw me off course. I also found it annoying to be told I need to get on with making. I know this full well. But with the conflicting feedback over the last few weeks, I had realised I needed to handle cloth to get the thought process going again, and having identified some simple panels to make, to reflect on use of space, I found it annoying to have my ideas rubbished (again!), told to get on with making, then told to stop wasting time making single image objects, and do something different (again!). I was given lots of ideas on how to use my drawings on dress fabric to make unique dresses. But I am not a dressmaker. I am not a fashion student. I am not an experienced patternmaker making repeat patterns using photoshop, and neither do I want to be. The trouble with keep changing direction, is that you end up going round in circles .... unproductively. I was seriously hacked off.
Yesterday evening Jim and I went to see Vanda's MA show. The University of Herts Applied Arts MA students had organised to show their work at the Mile End Art Pavilion. It was good to see their work. A lot of it was very conceptual and a bit beyond me. I used my time there to consider the staging. Space was used to good effect. I noted Vanda had displayed her sheer textile works against a painted grey panel (when staging, sometimes you need to bring your own paint!). It was good to see other people's work and lifted my spirits. I was able to laugh with Vanda and this was what I needed. I looked at Marian Murphy's work "Lists", and this morning, decided that making some lists might be good for my work too. I have got ideas, and maybe with my high literacy levels, what I need is a visual list to work through.
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| Vanda Campbell. Found piece/print on white sheer fabric. Hanging free against grey panel. In my opinion, best in show |
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| Vanda Campbell. Found spectacle frame, with plastidip |
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| Vanda Campbell. Found wing mirror and broken scissors with hand made knotted thread |
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| Marian Murphy Lists |
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| Marian Murphy Lists |
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