Exhibition overload but it was wonderful!

In December I was fortunate again to get back to London for 2 weeks; the timing really for husband's work and to meet up with family but I did manage to 'cram' in a number of exhibitions.  I'm mentioning them here in a post more to remind myself rather than to critique them in any great depth.
I started another sketchbook on my travels and I've included some photos of pages where I could not photograph.

Ai Weiwei's work at the Royal Academy was great to see from his marble grass and pushchair to his bicycle chandelier.  Despite being packed out the day we visited, everyone was very quiet and subdued as they walked around his pieces.  I loved the settings chosen for his work particularly the chandelier and stacked rods.  When we left Sydney he was in the news there receiving donations for the contentious lego block installations but I believe the chandelier will also feature, so it will be interesting to see this in a new location.

 

 "The Fabric of India" exhibition at the V&A was wonderful - a major overload of pink, gold and orange.

Couldn't take photos but made so many notes of traditional patterns and dyeing/ weaving techniques, and of contemporary Indian designers to check up later.

At the Tate Modern I took in the Alexander Calder exhibition from his wire portraits and figures to his better known mobile installations.

It was the shadows created by the installations that appealed to me and I tried to sketch them repeatedly.  The closer I looked the more I appreciated the balance and movement created in the mobiles through open and closed links - very tempting to touch!

Another exhibition on in the gallery at this time that I loved, included pieces from their permanent collection and some on loan, called "Making Traces".  These works were full of layering of paint, techniques and even layered collages torn back.

Part of a series entitled "Pavement Karaoke" by Laura Owens
Features layers of impasto and fake 'drop shadows' to give the illusion of depth

detail from "Pavement Karaoke"

 I loved the torn graffiti look to this huge canvas:

Christopher Wool

detail from above

The last piece reminded me of something I'd seen in an Anthropologie store earlier that day.


This abstract textile was inside the store and caught my eye.  It was only closer that you could see it was made out of cloth and staples like layers of fabric had been ripped off the wall.

 Incidentally I love to see that shop's display windows - way too expensive but the displays are great.

Anthropologie on King's road, Chelsea

I hadn't seen much of Frank Auerbach before going to Tate Britain other than a few of his portraits but I was amazed by the colour in this show.  The sheer volume of paint used in his work almost gives it a sculptural quality but his colour combinations - red with green and orange/coral with blue were amazing.

The British Museum also got a visit - to the Celts: art and identity exhibition.

 

So many sketches and notes taken but still couldn't resist getting the catalogue. The lighting and layout was wonderful with swathes of voile at ceiling height guiding your passage through the exhibits. For pieces so old the shine and the detail was breathtaking.  It was fascinating to see how these ancient designs and jewellery styles influenced the designers of the Arts and Crafts movement for one.

For those who have never been before, the Saatchi Gallery on King's Road, Chelsea is so worth a regular visit and this time was no disappointment.  The space and light inside set off the pieces well and you get the time to study everything without crowds around.  Plus it's free!

"Illusory Body" 2014 byAnna Sorokovaya

One place I had never been to before was the William Morris Gallery at Walthamstow
 and I was so pleased I managed the rather long tube journey out there.  The gallery is in one of his family's previous houses there, a rather grand stately house and grounds, and has a great permanent exhibition of his life and work along with numerous samples of his designs and technical detail of the printing process.  I bought some gorgeous postcards of his designs hand drawn and coloured in part.  You'll find some more information about William Morris here.
There is also a room for invited artists' exhibition and while I was there pieces by Bob and Roberta Smith (aka Patrick Brill, a rather brilliant contemporary UK artist) adorned the walls.  Check him out if you're not familiar - reminds me of Rosalie Gascoine's road signs a bit.

Off Piccadilly area is the White Cube gallery at Mason's Yard and I came here to see "Losing the Compass", an exhibition which focussed on  "the rich symbolism of textiles and their political, social and aesthetic significance through both art and craft practiceas traces the poetic and subversive use of the textile medium through works by Mona Hatoum, Mike Kelley, Sergej Jensen, Sterling Ruby, Rudolf Stingel, Danh Vo and Franz West, wallpaper by 19th century English designer, craftsman and socialist William Morris and a series of quilts made collectively by the Amish and Gee’s Bend communities in USA during the late 19th and early 20th Century."

It is always great to see textiles in an 'art gallery' setting but not sure if it really lived up to the hype here.

So many seen but, oh, so many yet to see....

Totems

The design exercises of Chapter 5 concern totems.  Like other students before me, I looked into the definition to find a contemporary equivalent or twist I could use here

• a natural object or an animate being, as an animal or bird, assumed as the emblem of a clan, family, or group.
• a representation of such an object serving as the distinctive mark of the clan or group.

In this design context the totem should be representative of my personal research and development through this course so what better way or encompassing my work than to use the decorated papers, fibre materials and photos that I created during each module of the diploma. 

I chose to create a collection of gumnut motifs torn out from these papers as it was symbolistic of my overall vegetation theme and motif had been used in some form or another throughout the diploma eg Module 1 sketchbook, Module 3 strapwork and Module 4 3D shapes).

5.1: gumnut shapes torn from decorated papers monoprints and photos used during modules 1-5

I decided to arrange them threaded through 3 lengths of jute twine as I had made in previous chapters of this module, and hang them from a hook to photograph.

5.2: hanging 'totem' of gumnuts

Indigenous Australians were very much into the spiritualism surrounding totems particularly shown in representations of 'Dreamings" so I wanted to link my totem with something more indigenous.  I prepared an open net 'cloth' using the jute fibre with the intention of making a bag akin to a traditional dilly bag to hold and thereby "connect" the motifs together.

5.3: jute net preparation

 I used a canvas frame approx 50cm x 40cm to support the net while I made it with jute string and lark head knots. Traditional dilly bags are made quite differently but I felt the visual connection would be evident.

Once made however I found the totem shapes were more interesting when interlaced in the net of the bag rather than contained as a bundle inside.

5.4

I photographed the totem in 5.4 all ways and cropped to achieve some more interesting close-ups that I could play with.

5.5

5.6

5.7

To develop these photo shots further into another design or totem, I merged them with sections of the original collages and drawings (5.8 and 5.9) of the gumnuts that I had made in my sketchbook.

5.8

5.9

Without access to a great program like Photoshop I cut out these cropped photos and played around with them to make another totem in 5.10

5.10

Certain areas of this totem I think are worth cropping further and pursuing eg the end on the left with the split gumnut but maybe another time.  For this exercise I simply looked at border edge designs with repeated units as in 5.11 and 5.12

5.11

5.12

Going back to the original photo (5.2) of the 3D totem, I cut out the totem and treated it as a 2D shaped edging and used these as stencils.

5.13

The cut totem was then placed as a design motif on a background of recycled black paper stamped with these stencil outlines (5.14 and 5.15).

5.14

5.15

Design from ethnic source - Chapter 4 cont.

Following on from this post where I was drawing inspiration from indigenous Australian sources I've been developing some more paper designs.
Using the 'kangaroo / boomerang' motif and variations of it, I prepared, on recycled black paper, some monoprinted backgrounds which were a little more interesting and could be progressed into stitched works.
Sian had advised me to think of the 'characteristics' of the inspirational designs that attracted me and use those in developing my own designs.  So I've employed simple colour scheme, tonal contrasts, outlining, repetition but with torn, uneven sizing.

4.15

4.16

4.17

Added motifs developed them into the following:

4.18

4.19

4.20

4.21

On a recent trip to London particularly to the British Musuem I found some interesting painted barkcloth and fibrous weaving from the Pacific islands and Torres Strait islands north of Australia.  A couple of these were inspiration for the recycled paper samples.

4.22: Painted barkcloth (left) stitched sample (right)

4.23: painted barkcloth (left) and stitched sample (right) using momi'd paper, dyed cleaning rags, dyed cloth and tea bags

Final assessment piece in situ

So finally I have managed to deliver my hanging to the client and photograph it as intended in the company foyer.
This was the wall space as proposed in a previous post:

11.40 site of commission

and here are some photos of the hanging in situ:

11.41 Sterculia 2015

11.42

11.43

11.44 Sterculia detail

Evaluation:  The piece was hung from a clear perspex rod (10mm diam) so as to minimize the visual impact of a pole against the wall and not detract from the work.  The flexibility of the rod successfully enabled the piece to follow the curvature of the wall, and not impede the flow of traffic through that area.
The rod was attached to the wall using 3 clear "command" hooks and strips.

All my previous photography of the work was taken against a white backdrop so I was anxious to see how the piece appeared against this darker wall.  I acknowledge that the brown and green colours merge into the background a little more as I suspected they would, but the 'floral' motifs in yellow are now brighter and focal to the piece.  The fluorescent lighting adds to this.

Design changes?  I would like to pursue my idea to hang several overlapping layers distinctly apart but I think a site with an open void might have been better suited to that.  I could have gone bigger of course, making a feature of the curved wall and creating a hanging twice as wide, but overall I am pleased with the result.

Time taken to produce:  

• to prepare and felt the final 2 layers of lace felt - 13 hours
• to prepare the sheer and felted motifs with shisha mirrors - 9 hours
• to attach and free machine embroider - 5 hours

total time - 27 hours

Cost to produce:

• merino wool roving (approx 500g) - $4
• landscape dyes (approx 10g) - $12
• shisha mirrors - $8
• polyester sheer fabric (approx 1m) - $10
• wool yarns, crochet cottons - $7
• embroidery thread, machine and hand - $12
• perspex rod - $16
• resist foam and plastic sheeting for felting - $3

total cost - $72

Methods and order of work:

• dyeing of wool roving, wool yarns, cotton yarns
• laying out dyed yarns and wool roving in lattice formation for felting
• felting of lattice layers
• felting shisha mirrors into wool, drying, cutting out paisley pattern motifs from felt and free machine embroidering
• drawing out motifs on water soluble fabric, stitching motifs through sheers, dissolving fabric, drying then cutting out motifs using soldering iron.
• attaching motifs to lattice by hand stitching

Particular health and safety issues:

• acid dyes - powdered dye kept in sealed pots within sealed container out of reach of children in dedicated dyeing room.  Mask and gloves worn when measuring out into jar.  Care taken in adding hot water, making solution of dye.  Be aware of steam in urn when adding dye solution or wool roving / yarn.  All utensils used only for dyeing procedure.
• felting - work on raised table to minimize strain on back, mop up any water spills on floor around working area
• shisha mirror motifs - be aware of cut mirror edges within felt when free machining felt motifs, wear glasses for protection against broken needles
• soldering iron - work in well ventilated room, preferably next to open window, leave hot iron held in upturned flower pot when not in use, always remember to pull out plug after use.

A little extra on Sterculia

While I was working on my Sterculia hanging I began to develop an accompanying wearable piece and was fortunate enough to have both works on exhibition in November through the Untethered textile group in Hornsby, NSW.

Sterculia II

Since the Sterculia plant was pharmaceutically related to the human body I felt a wearable piece was in order.  The constriction and discomfort often felt by IBS sufferers can be symptomatically relieved by this product.  This is depicted here through the use of tendrils winding around the human form, from the rigid thorn-like fronds around the neck to gradual relaxation until the tendrils open out into a lacy array of colour at the base.

Some more detailed photos:

Bodice top featuring wired tendrils

The barl-like bodice was made using hand dyed merino with tissue silk nunofelted underneath with numerous resists incorporating yarn and pencil roving.  A concealed zip is sewn in the side seam for wearablility.

Back of bodice

Sections of the bodice do not have silk structure on reverse which enables the felt lattice to fold over loosely at the top edge like peeling bark.

lower lace dress

The lattice tendrils were prepared separately and stitched on to the long bodice using seed beeds and motifs only as far as the hip area.  The rest of the tendrils (in one length 6m in total) are wound by hand once on the model using internally wired tendrils to create the neck feature.

detail of wrapping tendrils

The organza motifs found in the hanging are repeated on this garment.