Compton Verney Longest Line of Bunting World Record Attempt

Compton Verney is 10 years old this year and to celebrate they are attempting to break a world record by making the longest line of bunting. I thought I'd help out! I am still trying to use and re-use things from my old Beanfield studio and knew I'd have paper and materials to hand so set to and here's my contribution with screen prints made with very degraded screens from a Big Draw project in Corby, after school club wax resist examples, stamps, glitter, batik dyes, wall paper and most are double sided too. A very enjoyable form of paperwork resulted in 42 pieces of bunting before I had to head back inside to do a bit more less interesting (and often less fruitful) paperwork!

If you're short of something to do, why not sort through your old papers and help add to the bunting world record attempt. You can find out more about the project here and you can download an instruction pack here

Cubist Collage and Dancing Doves

My second project in Bedford was with Year Four who were looking at Cubist collages inspired by MOMA's 2011 exhibition Picasso Guitars 1912 - 1914. We began by looking at Picasso's preparatory drawings and the children made their own drawings. Drawing exploded, multi-dimensional objects was quite a challenge but once we moved on to using collage materials they became much more confident about playing with space.

The following week we took Picasso's Dove drawings as our inspiration

and created 3D models from empty milk bottles.

Spinning Yarns

I love old industrial buildings and am always vastly cheered to see these great old spaces get a new lease of life, I love a good yarn, a tall tale and am very partial to rust and peeling layers of paint or wall paper. I am also trying to follow Kate Lynch's mending example and am trying to use or reuse work that has served it's original purpose. So I was delighted to receive the open call from artist Nita Nathwani to add a piece of work to the show she is creating / curating at the LBC Depot in response to a former hosiery factory in Charnwood. On her posterous page she writes:-

"Doors that locked forever on a section of Leicester's hosiery and knitwear industry will open up to welcome new creativity in its cultural quarter.  The old Charnwood building is soon to breathe new life after being cobwebbed since the 1990's.  'Makers' Yard is the oldest surviving hosiery factory in the East Midlands that's currently being restored into a dynamic and inspiring workspace for creative entrepreneurs, opening late January 2013. In a lead to this opening, I will be curating an exhibition and showing my work, helped with collaboration with other makers, at the nearby LCB Depot gallery" 

It was an intriguing brief with a tight deadline but in the spirit of the new year I decided I would try and make something for the show. Nita provided an inspiring range of source images and I began by manipulating some, adding them to some of my own images of cobwebs and stocking prints, with the notion of printing them on to fabric and working from there. However the bad weather set in and I was forced to use what ever was to hand.

I think I'll be going back to work on the digital images at a later stage 

however the other images can be viewed here

Part of the Coombe Abbey Park Tea Towel Installation

Some of the textile inks failed

and many images ran in the rain

but I do find it difficult to throw good materials away. I have also been given quite a stash of strange and interesting fabrics over the years which I like to think of as the Dorothy Jones, Joan Dyer and Sheila Rastall Archive of Tailoring and Dress Making. I raided the loft and the shed/studio undeterred by the freezing conditions in both places and emerged with supplies!

I decided to make a pair of soft sculpture jugs from up-cycled hand printed tea towels and vintage woollen fabrics which answered part of Nita's brief "Your version of a jug in your material. It does not have to have a functional use."

The jugs have sheep, wool, knitting, stockings, boots, shoes and corsets over-printed on them and are constructed with both machine and hand stitching. 

Having formed part of an outdoor installation they have been aged by wind and weather.

The jugs tie together thoughts I have had about the corset industry in Market Harborough, the boot and shoe industry of Northamptonshire, the knitting industry of Leicestershire and the former importance of wool as a raw material for many garments and industries, this once precious commodity is now often seen as a waste product. 

The pieces have raw and unfinished edges, when I thought about the jug shape I wanted to make I had an image of wool sacks in my mind. The jugs have a soft, collapsing shape, reminiscent of and empty sock or stocking' I'm calling the pair Collapsing Histories, I think they are strangely touching and quite tactile.

The Spinning Yarns Makers Showcase can be seen at the LBC Depot and features a selection of work from artists and designer-makers in the East Midlands, to coincide with the launch of the new Makers’ Yard studio space in the Grade II-listed former hosiery factory at 82-86 Rutland Street, Leicester. 

The exhibition includes work by Nita Nathwani, Lisa Godrich, Tracie Murchisson, Carole Miles, Melanie King, Claire Newberry, Minnie Techman, and Sophie Cullinan. 

January 22nd - 7th Feb 2013

9.00am - 5.00pm

Monday to Friday

LCB Depot, 31 Rutland Street, Leicester LE1 1RE

New Shoots?

I love Artist Multiples, small, portable pieces of art that give you a hint or a flavour of an artist's work. Over a period of time I've been developing some Multiples of my own, the most recent being a series of images printed onto seed paper and presented using old postcards to create the package toppers.

The postcard was from Open Places Open Spaces in 2003 - an early digital image called Primavera which features, amongst the layers, buildings from Northampton town centre and a friend spouting flowers from her mouth. 

The seed papers contain a mixture of wild flowers and after soaking can be planted. I'm doing a test at the moment and have planted one of the images to see how it grows. I'm calling these multiples "The Seeds of Change" and they are currently available at Longdogs Bazaar on Etsy.  They are £5 each with free postage in the UK or three for £10 plus postage. They are A6 size, light, easy to post and make a nice gift! All the digital images are also available in other sizes and on a variety of supports.

This set feature images which combine buildings and plants / weeds seen sprouting in, on and around buildings

This image contains images of my first whippet, Shelley, bounding about in Wickstead Park

 

These are reproductions of older collographs - an original print of Willow Woman (in the centre) plus two other green Man inspired pieces are now part of the IOTA Collection. "Based in Glasgow (Scotland), IOTA is a private research collection of representations of the green man. IOTA seeks examples from all periods and from all cultures"

During the mid 1990's I was very inspired by the writer Angela Carter and intrigued by one of her stories The Erl King, so began making a series of images with people being seduced into the woods by an enigmatic character with branches or leaves sprouting from his head. I also started making smaller collagraphs and the Green Man /men / women with sprouting heads began to appear. It also coincided with a firm belief that we need to take more care of nature, so many green spaces are being eaten up by housing and industrial units, we need to look after what is left.

Last year I made The Sweet Smell of Success - a Limited Edition of 30 silk lavender bags, each with a distressed digital transfer print on the front and filled with English lavender

The remaining few are also available  at Longdogs Bazaar on Etsy.

I have put a few small framed prints up for sale 

House Sitter

To The Sea

and there are still a few pieces of my second jewellery collection left. The collection was developed after making a piece of work for the second Held in the Hand collection - part of the innovative  Held in the Hand and Touch Tables projects initiated by Leicestershire County Council Heritage and Arts Service. They, along with 9 other major museums have been longlisted for the second annual Clore Award for Museum Learning, which recognises quality, impact and innovation in museum learning initiatives. The New Vistas / Wider Horizons Big Draw project I developed with Back To Books last year was shortlisted for an Epic Award and for a Drawing Inspiration Award.