Frayed: Textiles on the Edge

 

Tracey Emin
John Craske Embroidery

 

This week I visited the Frayed: Textiles on the Edge exhibition at the Time & Tide Museum in Great Yarmouth.  The exhibition links the connection between therapy and stitch. 

I marvelled at the John Craske wool embroidery depicting the evacuation of Dunkirk.  The scale of the work and the detail indicate the patience and therapeutic qualities of his stitching.

Tracey Emin's 'Haunted' piece was lost amongst such dynamic pieces.  Emin is no shrinking violet but, to me,  her work looked insipid amongst the skill, drama and scale of the exhibition.

The star of the show is the Lorima Bulwar rant embroideries.  The embroideries positively spit out their jumbled messages - indignantly and single mindedly. 

The exhibition included a textile of stitched text by Sarah Impey.  Her work is very precise and very cleverly executed.  It seems wrong to criticise such perfection - but, for me, the piece left no room for interpretation or imagination.



Elizabeth Parker's 1830s cross stitched text is dense and unadorned.  Humble and remorseful and so very wretched.  The stitches are tiny and punishing. 
 

My practice continues - although without a committed direction as yet. 

However, the research continues with Julia Twigg's fascinating book on the links between Fashion and Age.  It includes case studies, journalists, designers and retailers.  I am also reading Lynne Segal's feminist book 'Out of Time' which is both political and cultural.

I finished my collage of the word Crone but the end result was  disappointing.  Whereas the individual letters held a bit of humour and surprise, when they were put together they took on a silly clichéd cartoon effect.  In discussion with tutor it was agreed that the images chosen for the collage were too random, they didn't didn't reflect research or depth.  The trivial quality of the collage is due to a lack of narrative.

 

Emily Charman gave a talk this week -  such a talent, it was a joy to know that her talent is being recognised.  Her advice was - take every opportunity to show your work and do some drawing every day. 

 

For the past few Thursday afternoons Holly, Vanessa and I have hired the drawing studio and taken advantage of the space and resources and, not least, the support of each other.

 

This week we were using Procion to draw directly on to textiles.  We also experimented with using chemical water and Manutex to stop the ink bleeding into the textiles.  Finally, I decided that I liked the effect of the bleeding and I painted ageing asymmetric faces and lips.

 

Sarah Angold took the group tutorials this week.  Very embarrassing because I still haven't found my direction - but it will happen...although I know it will happen sooner when I take the plunge and get printing.

 

Anyway, I have been looking back at my work and influences.  I also looked at Gerhard Richter work, with its blurred depictions which are suited to this project....transparency, anonymity, indistinguishable.

To experiment with the effect, I cut up a couple of enlarged sections of one of my drawings - cutting one into strips and the other into square then put them back together again but slightly mismatched.  This is how I am going to take the work forward - using screen prints.

  

Noma Bar

My project is partly about the transparency of older women and I am always on the lookout for images which portray transparency.

Now Noma Bar's images are not about transparency - they are extremely dramatic.  

Nonetheless he does use transparency as a technique to increase the graphic qualities of the image.

I think his images are extremely clever and effective.  His powerful portrait of Saddam Hussein (above) uses a radiation symbol for Sadam's eyes/eyebrows and moustache, simply adding a military beret and jacket.  The face is transparent.  Similarly, the image of Charlie Chaplain (right) is pared back to black on a white background, the face is transparent, with black continuous line features which results in an evocative, rather sad portrait. 

I am reverting back to collage techniques for my project.  I am behind with the work, but rather than angsting on what I should or should not be doing, I am simply doing what I feel is most creative.  Whatever the result it is better than non-productive panic.  I'm pleased with the results.

got through the day

 Lisa Levis (formerly Stickley) was guest speaker this morning.  She described her career - chronologically - which includes degree, then Masters at RCA, building her own makeshift studio and working as designer/maker.  She made excellent contacts with Liberty, Heals and boutiques selling wash bags, make up bags, ceramics and bed linen.  By giving a lot of attention to quality and detail. the company grew, staff were taken on and larger premises were found.  Sadly she inadvertently sold her name and designs following poor legal advice.  However, she has married and her name is now Lisa Levis (rhymes with Ben 'Nevis')and she is trading under the name Ada.Rose and also under the name Betty & Walter for a toiletry range at Boots.  Her work uses feminine and joyful motifs which are quite simple and appealing.  Really interesting lecture. 

Group tutorial.  Louise Richardson supported us by suggesting ways forward.  She suggested I persevere with the visibility/transparency route. 

Vanessa, Holly and I went to drawing studio.  We all worked on large pieces.  I let loose by spattering ink and bleach.  I particularly liked the pattern left on the tapes (see left).


Quote I heard today.

"Don't worry, be crappy" Guy Kawasaki, Rules for Revolutionaries -The Capitalist Manifesto

evidencing decisions

 

 

I am looking for a font which would be suitable for my designs.  I need a chunky font with serif which will retain a good shape when it is enlarged.   Emboldened Copperplate Gothic Light seems to be the ideal.

Finding direction

What haven't I mentioned so far this week?  The final Reith lecture by Grayson Perry was thought provoking, as usual - it all seems light-hearted but he discusses serious issues.  This week he mentioned the stifling effect of self-consciousness - ooh I suffer.

I've started compiling some digital images using text.

I'm still experimenting with collage images in my sketch book and I'm still researching my subject - in the process I am finding blogs and web pages for older women who 'don't want to be invisible'.



While consulting my lovely magazine UPPERCASE - the solution hit me.  The design wouldn't include text, it would be the text.  Collaged text(digital/screenprint) and handpainted text.  The text would consist of the words which are used to describe women - fishwife, woman of a certain age, cougar, bag lady, old biddy, mutton dressed as lamb, crone, harridan, old maid, old dear.

I've been researching how to handpaint textiles and I have mixed a solution of urea, soda ash and resist salt which can be used to either treat the fabric or mix with the reactive dye for painting.  The solution/dye mixture can also be thickened with manutex to prevent colours 'bleeding'.  The manutex/solution can also be painted onto the fabric to stiffen it, then painting with reactive dye and water. 

At last I have a clearer direction.  Sadly I don't have 10 samples to show at the tutorial tomorrow.

fashion illustration

I am looking at a book by Tony Glenville called New Icons of Fashion Illustration.  It shows the work of twenty eight illustrators.  I am particularly taken with the artwork of Julie Verhoeven - colourful, vibrant, painterly, collage, surprising. She accurately describes her work as 'fast and reckless'. 

I am still thinking about how I will progress my project.  I think I will find my way by concentrating on the concept of visibility and transparency.  I feel immersed in the topic but I am finding  it difficult to find visual expression.

On the research front, I am looking at Lynne Segal's book 'Out of Time' and Julia Twigg's study of Fashion and Later Life.

Today I was looking at advertising material for Jarrolds department store - a store used largely by 'women of a certain age' - all the fashion models are young. Why?

In the newspaper today I noticed a report which stated that the BBC and ITV turned had down a hit drama series about older people on the grounds that 'senior citizens were considered a viewer turn-off' but BBC later reconsidered having 'presumably woken up to the maturity of its audience'!

drawing workshop

lovely morning drawing and painting.  cutting a photograph, patching it together, then drawing it  as pattern rather than as a portrait.  Firstly with charcoal, then with marker pen, then with watered down acrylic paints - brushing the paper with water at regular intervals.

Very useful for abstracting an image and for creating a looser image - very enjoyable too.  We are trying to book the drawing studio for next week too.