Through
Facebook, I became aware of an exhibition titled On My Mother’s Knee which is a
textiles exhibition with a couple of ladies from the 62 Group and also others
not in the 62 Group.
I left
it until the last possible day to go! I
kept thinking I will go but then it got to last week and I thought I really
want to go, but didn’t have funds to get there unless we got paid on Saturday
so I contacted Llantarnam Grange and asked as it’s a touring exhibition, is it
likely to be going somewhere this year and the response was if you want to see
it, probably best to go while it’s on.
So I did. I got up Saturday
morning, checked the bank balance for student funds (!!) and booked a train for
9.50 am to Cwmbran. Whilst on the train
I was able to do some research for the self- employment assignment.
The
venue was only 5 minutes from the train station and has a lovely welcoming
atmosphere. The exhibition was set over
2 rooms and there were 8 female exhibitors and it was pure textiles. Two of my favourite artists Caren Garfen and
Julie Arkell were what really drew me to it.
I’ve seen only small pieces of Caren’s work close up and I’ve only seen
Julie’s work in books or on screen.
I did
my own video as I went around the exhibition for the second time, complete with
my own brief commentary. I also took
photographs. I felt inspired by what I
saw. Not just inspired though. All the work there is work that I could
do. Some of it infact I have already
done. Heat transfer, hand embroidery,
trapunto, mark making with stitch and simple sewn items. There was lots of vintage about the
exhibition mainly because the exhibition is about the artists’ experience of
what they learnt as a child from parents and grandparents about textiles. Many of the artists indeed had a parent who
was in the creative industry.
Louise Frances Evans’ work using heat
transfer on vintage clothing and shoes was imaginative. She had heat transferred images into the
insole of the shoe and onto vintage blouse and apron and 2 old dolls. Black
and white images against a dusky pink shoe added to the vintage look.
Kirsty Anderson had used vintage
fabrics, recreating a bird mobile using string and I suspect a hoola hoop and
had created birds which were suspended, creating a shadow against the white
wall.
Julie Arkell and her stunning paper
mache people – just one on display today but it was enough! It stood about 10/12 inches tall and was
painted vivid red. Her accompany
bonnet, again in red, made me think about my knitting. So far I have received fantastic comments
about my knitted hats but seeing Julie’s hat in an exhibition has given me
thoughts on using my knitting in my work which I haven’t really done to date
other than the Sharpe’s project.
Kate Jenkins created an amazing bold crocheted heart, complete with arteries and veins. She is known as a crocheting genius and I can’t disagree after viewing her work! Her work wasn’t really to my personal taste, I could appreciate the work that had gone into it. She did a series of pictures using crochet and sequins, all food related. They reminded me of some of the work in the Haitian exhibition last year at the Nottingham Contemporary – it was the sequins that reminded me of this work.
Caren Gafen – what can I say. Absolutely amazing. Two identical designed dresses with written
word hand stitched on of the twins’ experience as a child. I kept looking at the dresses thinking
there’s no way someone could stich that accurately but she does. Caren’s work generally is very crisp and
clean
Jessica Chorley likes to new life to
old things and her work showed this.
From old fabric to old nik naks (can’t think of a better phrase) she
collated items into painted up second hand frames. There was a large stitched piece of work and
I couldn’t tell whether it was hand stitched or done by machine. It was different to Caren Garfen’s stitching
in that this was almost dirty and old looking compared to Caren’s crisp clean
white. In my work, I identify more
with Jessica’s style which is not as precise as Caren’s.
 |
| hand stitched embroidery |
 |
| this was a picture in a frame that was made up of some lace, drawing/painting, safety pin and other nik naks |
Lynn
Setterton had created one piece of work which was about 6 x 4 foot and it was
actually a piece of work that she started about 30 years ago and it was
recently found when clearing out her mother’s house. It was a series of houses in a multitude of
fabrics. It didn’t really do anything
for me I have to say other than make me see that the stitching wasn’t perfect
and yet was still hung in a gallery! I
have a great tendency to be very critical of my work so I have seen today that
actually, the quality of my work is pretty good.
Ruth Singer had created pieces based on
what her grandfather had in his sheds.
She had hand stitched onto white fabrics including cotton items such as
gardening tools. She had also used
trapunto creating tear shapes which she had embroidered around. I found this work quite simple and
pleasing.
After
seeing this exhibitions I I know it is textiles I want to focus on. I have the skills that are on display at the
exhibition I have seen today I just need to put them into a project, refine
them and build on them rather than looking for new techniques and skills to
learn.
 |
| trapunto |
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