Saturday 26 February 2011

Chapter 8, Section 3 and exhibitions

the final part of chapter 8 (think i called it chapter 7 in my last post!!) required taking one of the designs from Part 1 and converting it into 'stitch'. i chose this one.
i decided i wanted to make it light and lacy which was far removed from the original t shirt and the above design. so i took my original adaptation and printed it onto a cotton organdie (a la Maggie Grey method). i decided to concentrate mainly on the 'R's and the swirly bits. each R is made individually using a combination of photo's from the original piece, machine stitch, tissue, cellophane, the paper the organdie was printed onto and plain organdie. each R, except for the organdie ones has a base layer of yellow felt.
the swirly bits are crocheted with a fine wire, looping randomly. the design is followed through by linking the image on the photograph with the original (if that makes sense). all outlines are machine stitched uniformally and the R's stitched together where they overlap with an invisible nylon thread so they look as if they are floating i hope. the whole thing measures 28cm wide and each R is 5.5cm high. as a postscript to this post i wanted to share some exhibition experiences.
in my last post i said i was off to see 'Taking Time, Craft and the Slow Revolution'. i have in fact seen 3 exhibitions recently. when we left the somewhat disappointing slow craft (which i had waited over a year to see)! we found opposite one of the most stimulating exhibitions i have seen in a long while. 'Dominion' by Angela Cockayne at The Peninsula Art Gallery was based around the whale and only 2 textiles in sight! she reminded me of Joseph beuys with her use of fur, wax and resin. i find i am very critical of contemporary textile exhibitions now, also working in a museum i always end up looking at the way things are displayed and presented which can ruin the exhibition for me. the 3rd exhibition was in Bath, '50/50: working in parallel' at the Victoria Art Gallery was a joint exhibition by Cleo Mussi a mosaic artist (who made the above face and Matthew Harris who makes wonderful painterly textiles and whom i chose for one of my textile artists. the work was based around a trip to Japan, a very colourful (Cleo's side) and exciting exhibition but i still enjoyed Angela Cockaynes best.

Friday 11 February 2011

More SLOW edges

these seem to have taken ages to do! anyway here goes with examples of edges.
#1 two using a combination of paper and cotton organdie, cutting, folding and looping up in the lower one.
#2 i have been collecting milk bottle tops for ages and wanting to do something with them! they have been folded in half here and 'enclose' the edge. they are attached by a circular die and just held by the cutting (probably not very stable!). the lower one is a knitted zig-zag of silver wire, then folded to enclose the edge and secured with staples (catching both sides of the knitting).
#3 newsprint folded to enclose the edge with holes stamped through and all secured with a scoobie
#4 top one is basically a bound edge of clear plastic with a wire 'spring' threaded through afterwards. Lower one a bound edge enclosing paper twists.
#5 top edge uses a mask to form the letters/squiggles, the organdie then painted, a metal wire chain applied with additional running stitch and sprayed using lolly stick masks! hope that makes sense! the middle one simple wire wrapped around a square shape many times and then opened out and loosely stitched to the edge of some ramie. lower edge composed of 2 layers, organdie and lutrador (sprayed with cap masks), attached paper strips, hand chain stitch and fishing line crochet to attach the dangling caps.
#6 for Christmas i was given a wonderful book 'Just my Type' by Simon Garfield. its a book about fonts, the history of etc. the above 2 edges have use 'Totally Gothic' designed by Zuzana Licko. i loved it as soon as i saw it so there might be overkill! top edge used cut out shapes laid on felt and sprayed in layers with the final edge formed by cutting round the letters. the lower edge also on the same felt uses bits of paper, fabric, cellophane, melted straws etc to layer up applique letters.
#7 top edge made up of 3 layers, lutrador, waxed newspaper and organdie on top. gathered with fishing line, tissue stuck over the ridges and iridescent shapes stitched into the ridges. the lower edge, more sprayed newspaper with cellophane gathered up and melted and stitched to felt.
#8 more letters! top similar to #6 more newspaper and cellophane applied to organdie. the lower edge a combination of stencil and cut organdie.
#9 top edge uses recycled metal, papers, sweet wrappers and net enclosed in acetate all joined together with other bits and stitched to edge of florist cellophane.lower edge based on sketches from my sketchbook, using card, painted organdie, sequins, paper and cellophane.
#10 i took one of the braids i had made for a previous chapter and applied it to some black organdie. the lower edge used layers of tissue and random paint like marks worked with machine stitch.
it occurred to me after working so many edges looking downwards, that they look quite different when turned the other way! i have made cacti!! anyway after my SLOW edges i am treating myself to 'Craft and the Slow Revolution' at Plymouth Museum tomorrow.