Catching up

I must admit I laughed when I read the title of my last blog post. Although I am embarrassed it is so long since I last posted, I can't help but feel that 'rest' is the last thing I have been doing. As is normal for me at this time of year, the academic roller coaster reaches full speed and I am dragged along with it.

Although I have been stupidly busy, it has also been a wonderful period of blossoming talent that has seen my embroidery students complete their final collections for the Bradford summer show and all the excitement of New Designers. You can see a sample of their work Here. Amanda Woollard and Denise Jordan also have portfolios on Arts Thread. It has been a great pleasure to see things come together for exhibition and, as usual, the standard of work is wonderful.

While in London I was fortune to steal a few moments at the British Library to see Cornelia Parker's Magna Carta (An Embroidery), which was fascinating to see in person, having heard so much about it. It is such a clever project, but also the scale of the actual piece struck me; that a thing can be so much bigger than it's actual size... not sure that makes sense, but I think I mean the idea, meaning or story of something can be so much bigger than the original object.

Hanging work

For final year students up and down the country now is a stressful time as they hang their work for degree shows. For lecturers it is easy to become complacent when this becomes an annual round of white paint and plinths. This year because I have been busy making and hanging work this has given me a healthy perspective.

'Putting on a show twice a year is like going for a thorough check-up at the doctor's. I think it does me a lot of good... Sometimes it goes well, sometimes it doesn't, and in that case you have to tear everything down and begin again. But in any case we have to carry on moving forward, continuing our research, doing new experiments. That's how innovation happens, with us confronting real life...' Issey Miyake: Making Things by Kazuko Sato and Herve Chandes (1999) 

So I try to keep in mind that hanging an exhibition, however big or small is not the end of something, it is merely a place to pause, step back and reflect on the journey ahead. So be brave, put the work on the wall (window, floor...) admire your achievements and invite criticism.

... and good luck to my lovely third year students; you're nearly there!

In Cloud Country

A new exhibition at Harewood House focuses on the abstraction of nature. The artworks from the 18th to the 21th century include works by John Constable, Henri Matisse, Henry Moore, Edgar Degas, Richard Long, William Morris, Chris Ofili, J.M.W. Turner and Rachel Whiteread

'Whether it is atmospheric phenomena, the linear or textural qualities of the botanical world or their political and metaphoric potential, artists’ studies from nature offer a breathtaking range of abstractions' http://www.harewood.org/whats-on/exhibitions/1/978

The exhibition In Cloud Country continues until Sunday 30th June 2013.

While at Harewood I picked up a pine cone, then I noticed another, different kind. I love to find differences and similarities.

Light And Line

Last week I took a train to Barnsley to see Light & Line an exhibition by artists Anne Morrell and Polly Binns. Having read Alice's review here I was really excited as we share many similar interests in terms of landscape and textiles, what really surprised me was my response to the work. I have long been a fan of Polly Binns' work enjoying her sense of place and the way she seems to study and analyse surfaces. I was expecting to be utterly bowled over by her work, but as often happens with expectations I was disappointed. That isn't to say that Polly Binns is not a great artist, simply that these pieces on this occasion did not speak to me, they left me cold. Rather than the subtle, yet strong compositions and surfaces I am familiar with, the textile panels felt dead; flat, matte, surfaces with no sense of light or movement. I also felt the compositions looked uncomfortable, perhaps I was looking for something more dramatic.

Happily there were things to delight in the exhibition; I very much enjoyed the simplicity of Polly's etchings, which seemed more at ease with their scale and I loved the way the sequence of marks grew as a sequence of observations of the land.

What really surprised me though were some of Anne Morrell's works. My preference is normally for things with greater subtleties, but despite using bold colour I found her work interesting and engaging. The complexities of surface tension and layered colour were surprising and innovative, her use of textile transformative. Her textile pieces seem to act as a means of understanding the effects of light and water through an alternative media; working things out through making. The exploration of tension is very exciting, using stitch to stretch, pull and hold the fabric. Most of all though I enjoyed the small pieces mounted between perspex sheets and suspended in front of the window, the results being luminous even on a drab day. I really wish I had taken a photo of those.

The two artists clearly have much in common and this dialogue between them has been fascinating. The accompanying catalogue (from which I have added these photos) is also well written and provides useful insights that help us understand the artists motivations. Light & Line is a touring exhibition by Nottingham Castle Museum and Art Gallery and the exhibition will now be touring to the following locations:

2 February 2013 - 16 March 2013
Turnpike Gallery, Leigh

11 May 2013 - 7 July 2013
Nottingham Castle Museum & Art Gallery

You can read another interesting review from Alternative Barnsley here.

Cloth & Memory

Many thanks to Alice for inviting me to join her this afternoon at Salts Mill for a seminar to coincide with the current exhibition Cloth & Memory. It was a wonderful and unexpected opportunity to engage in discussion with the gathered participants, the three artists, Bob White, Beverly Ayling-Smith and Carol Quarini, and the curator Lesley Millar.

As well as recommending a visit to the exhibition, which finishes on Monday, I would like to share some notes and observations I made from the seminar and thoughts afterwards... this is a long posting, but I hope you will read and comment because we gain so much from discussions.

Some of the general themes were around the fluid and ambiguous nature of memory, and how cloth responds to this. People spoke of memory as having 'fuzzy edges', of blurring the boundaries between realities and memories. Fugitive memory, ever changing and influenced by our current situation, is often stimulated by sensory resonances, perhaps a familiar scent or tactile sensation. It was notable then that tactile responses underpinned much of the discussion and also the artists varying approaches to the subject matter, both in terms of making the work and in understanding the materiality of memory.

For all artists the use and choice of material was crucial to the artworks, I particularly enjoyed hearing how important this had been in terms of critically engaging with the work. The making was not simply a means to an end but essential to the concepts and how the work communicated. Bob White's choice of calico as a substrate, and the process of creating the paintings before putting them on a stretcher, had allowed him to explore the manner in which calico shrinks and distorts. I think many of us would have loved to see them unstretched, as we are told they were rather like animal skins. Carol spoke about the patience involved in putting thousands of pins into cloth and Beverly discussed the repetitive nature of ironing and waxing small pieces of textile and joining them with stitch. These slow meditative practises proved important in communicating the tactile sensuousness of cloth, which acted as a vessel for powerful emotions; grief, violence, isolation, sensuality... The results became abstract yet unambiguous for the viewer.

Questions were raised about the difference between memory and history, and how this might be translated by the artist. All of the exhibiting artists have worked with metaphor as a means of expressing  general ideas of memory, whereas perhaps a specific event or history might be recorded or documented. I wonder now, could an event be suggested with metaphor and a memory be documented?

If you want to read more about the exhibition do visit the website here. I would also recommend revisiting the exhibition catalogue of Textures of Memory- The Poetics of Cloth; dig it out if you have a copy.

Openings and launches

This weekend has marked a couple of exciting new things; Friday saw the opening night of Journeys & Migrations at Handmade in Bradford, which includes a small group of my work. I usually find private views and openings slightly scary, but in fact it was a lovely chilled out affair. I think it is the pressure of knowing I should be 'networking' that freaks me out, but if I am logical about it I actually do this without thinking about it. So thanks very much to the lovely arty folks I met, and to all the wonderful people at Fabric for putting together the exhibition. There is quite a variety, both in responses to the subject matter and in media and style of execution. I really enjoyed the mix of media, including artists books and zines, film, painting and live art. I highly recommend a visit to Handmade in Bradford, especially as you can even sit and have your lunch there in the picnic parlour...

... complete with vintage sewing machine, how cosy!

Also this week, after a few technical setbacks, my website has been updated, re-designed and is now finally live.

If you can visit either I would love to hear what you think.

Return to sender

As you might remember a piece of my work went off travelling as far as Ukraine recently. Well this week it returned home and I also received a CD with images from all the participants, which was a lovely surprise - Thanks Ludmilla!

While packages were returning from foreign climes, I was packing up other work for a forthcoming exhibition, this time much closer to home. More details to follow very soon.

Come on in, the door is open

Despite the rotten weather we had a steady stream of visitors on our opening day today. It was lovely to make some new acquaintances. It was worth braving the rain for a sneaky peak into Claire's basement studio, accessed via the garden. You can see a few photos of her hidden hideaway here.

I'm hoping to see a few more familiar faces tomorrow... still lots of homemade cake!

Getting there

Many sleepless nights and a frantic surge of mounting and framing later, and today we started hanging the work for the open house. It is great to be showing my new work in such an intimate setting and it really helps that Claire has such a lovely house. As we started to lay everything out it just seemed to look good with all the soft colours and surfaces of the walls and floors.

But please don't come over just yet, we don't open until Sunday. So still a few last preparations to do before then.

You can find myself, Claire & Hugh at:

13 Bromley Road
Shipley
BD18 4DS

on Sunday 3rd, Monday 4th & Tuesday 5th June from 11am - 4pm

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Boxing things up

I have been feeling really worried about the up coming Bradford Open exhibition. I think it's because it is such a long time since I have exhibited professionally that I feel really lacking in confidence. Everything needs rethinking from scratch. One of my worries was display, but after some conversations   I have been playing with  boxes instead of frames. Putting an edge around the work seems to help to add a finish and definition.

Maison et Objet 2012

So we really did try to cram a lot into our stay in Paris. Sometimes I think it would be nice not to plan anything for a trip and just wander, although that would be best when we don't have 32 students in tow.

On the Saturday we took the group to the fabulous interior trade fair Maison et Objet at the Parc des Exhibitions. The vast show would take several days to look around in detail so it was impossible to see everything. Unfortunately there is no photography allowed in the show but here are some of my highlights.

I spotted a lot of lightly textured and distressed metallic surfaces - detailed and timeless. I think we are also due to see a lot of reflective surfaces for interior surfaces and products over he coming year or two. Two weave companies stood out, for creating the most amazing woven metal fabrics:

Sophie Mallebranche, a designer of woven metal fabrics, based in Paris. Sophie's seems to be designing not with solid materials but playing with light itself.

Sophie Mallebranche

Fameed Khalique a London based company specialising in textiles and surfaces for luxury commercial interiors, hotels etc. They produce and source a wide range of materials from laser cut leather and stone to hand embroidered and woven materials. I think perhaps the designs that caught my eye may have been by the designer Annemette Beck, who creates woven designs with diverse materials such as paper, wire and horsehair. Her website is really inspirational too.

I was also particularly enthralled with the craft section of the fair, which presented individual artisans from around the world. A delegation of makers from Korea had a particularly beautiful display of work. But I also enjoyed the work of Janaina Milheiro, an artisan textile designer who's exquisite work employs feathers woven into beautiful woven fabrics..

Janaina Milheiro, Collection Le Fil des Plumes

Sylvie Guyomard was another French artisan maker, who really attracted my attention. Her large scale wall-based works were composed of thousands of tiny flakes of slate, applied almost like sequins or fish scales, so as to catch the light. She says: "Everything is born of the earth and the universe. Finding my source of creativity in the essence of the earth, the faults and movements of techtonic plates, my compostions are energeticas well as gentle and calm. Light plays an essential role, sometimes absorbed or refelcted, transporting us into unexpected landscapes".

Sylvie Guyomard

I also enjoyed the Maison et Objet trend areas, in which artists and trend organisations put together concepts for future trends. Despite my love/hate relationship with trends (I find the concepts exciting but it infuriates me that it engenders an inbuilt disposability within the design industries), I found the areas absolutely fascinating. The 'Crazy' concept for Inspiration 2012/13 is shown in a short film, which contains some of the objects featured in the three spaces for 'Sweet Freeks', 'Art'keting' & 'Dream Box'. Despite being highly disorientating, I was fascinated by Carnovsky's jungle design wallpaper using it's clever RGB design system; take a look at their website to understand what I mean, although the true effect needs to be experienced 'in the flesh'. This was used in one of the 'Dream Box' rooms, to great effect. Another room had a bed covered in a quilt of moss and surreal furniture that appeared to be reverting into saplings.

Carnovsky

Sticker Project

It's was a relief this afternoon to submit the work I have done for the sticker project at Bradford College, having beavered away all this week. I have been making a series of six handmade textile and paper 'stickers' titled 'Enter the Woods' based on a found verse (I think from an old hymn). If anyone knows who wrote this please let me know.

I think God gave the woods to us,

That we might steal away,

Alone to those green solitudes,

From all the noise of day,

I think God gave the woods to us,

To teach our souls to pray.

Each sticker includes a line from the verse enclosed within a folded piece of plant dyed cloth. I have used fine silk and metallic fabrics in subtle colours that seemed to mimic the colours of weathered concrete, wood and metal. This work aims to entice the viewer to explore green spaces, escaping the noise and bustle of city life. I imagine the stickers positioned around the urban environment, to be found in an intimate encounter with an unexpected artwork.

Below are some photos I took to see how the stickers might look in situ.

The stickers will join a large number of self-adhesive mini artworks by fellow Bradford staff and students, in locations in Spain and England to coincide with the Bilbao Art Fair. Rather than exhibit work in a gallery or art fair the project seeks to explore alternative, temporary locations for art by placing stickers outside the gallery, in urban spaces, on walls, pavements and unexpected public places. If anyone manages to see one let me know!

You can look at more fabulous sticker inspiration here.

Jaume Plensa

Visiting the Jaume Plensa exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park I found myself immersed in a moving sensory world of meaning. I enjoyed the way the work provoked multiple senses, tracing the letters with my fingers and listening to the deeply resonant sound of the brass gongs.

I was most deeply moved by the room filled with massive alabaster heads and it hit a note of deep spirituality in me. The notes in my journal were my thoughts there and then...

alabaster heads

tomb-like   asleep or dead?

memorial, meditative

calm but not sleeping?

subtle shading and smooth texture like a black and white photo.

Listening to deep resonance of a gong

soft light of tinkling metal letters

sublime, spiritual, moving

deeply affecting

Art in the Woods

Yesterday was installation day for Art in the Woods and despite very changeable weather we succeeded in putting up all my work (thanks John!). The art trail circles through a pine plantation which starts on the edge of Home Styles Reservoir. Walking up a steep track with ladders and all our paraphernalia we trekked to the site and then worked through sunshine and downpours to hang six long textile banners as well as the water soluble piece.

I happily managed to dodge the worst of the rain to put up this piece (below) which comprises cornely chain stitch embroidered text directly onto water soluble fabric. As you can see (further below) a few drops have started to dissolve the piece, which should change throughout the period of the art festival. I would love it if anyone can take photos of this piece if they visit the trail, it would be really lovely to have a record of how it changes. Please email me any of your pictures.