Further Experiments...

After using left over ribbons and paper, I wanted to develop on materials I could use, but still thinking about a diary...

I started to use old clothing and bedsheets...

The bed sheet samples, made me reflect back to when i researched Tracey Emin at the beginning of this project, How something as everyday as your bed, can become a sanctuary and also hold alot of narrative.

I also used a pair of my old jeans to create a sample, for people who know me i have an addiction to 'holey' jeans and i live out a pair at a time until they can't be worn anymore, but to me, they have become a comfort, i feel there a part of who i am, by having a signature hole in the knee.

Feeling Festive...

I decided to recycle the ribbons and paper from christmas presents and incorporate them into my chicken wire sample experiments...

Reflection...

Something i found really unexpected is as i have started to develop on a piece of research I had (Richard Tuttle's - The Place in the Window) , I have also been setting up the Visible Mending Project at UCA, and currently also have my woven diary samples, at Jo Aylwin's Gallery in Farnham (where i originally found The Visible Mending Project), is Carol's inspiration for the project came from a broken shed window, which she repaired by using chicken wire and various materials to darn the gaps, stopping the wind from entering her studio. This was something i didn't know until i had read her artist statement, after setting up the project and starting my own chicken wire samples.

These movements, that have come together in the last month, were all very different pieces of research, done over different periods of time, some right at the beginning of this project, others as development as the project has gone on, and now they have all come together to create a juxtaposition of different ideas and concepts... it seemed like a really good time to reflect and prove that what was just a few ideas has become interwoven in place, context and concept... all things i think a diary holds.

"The Place in the Window"

When i first looked at Richard Tuttle's book 'I don't know the weave of textile language', it was his work at the turbine hall that attracted me to his book, and how his evaluation of text and textile represents weave as language. Our everyday life can be interwoven, or sequential with the choices we make and routines we follow... but this piece stood out, as when i completed my samples, I tried weaving very freely, not thinking too much of an outcome, but trying to be instinctive and just do or create whatever i felt that day. But reflecting weave still requires a lot of structure, you have to set up a warp (vertical threads) before you can weave anything through it, so although i was trying to be very liberal, i was preparing and thinking a lot more than i realised, and this piece inspired me to think about grids, or structures that are already available.

Tuttle has used pulp on top of chicken wire, but what if you could weave through the mesh, create tassels and movement, but also texture, the contrast between metal and fabric...

Here are some initial experiments, with the same approach as the diary samples, just selecting yarns that stood out to me, and weaving very freely.

My Visible Mending Postcards...

I found it quiet hard to choose what to design for my entry to the Visible Mending Project.

I wanted it to relate to the project and researching diaries, but be personal to me.

I chose these two postcards, as i felt they document the Journey i have been on to get to where i am today. Also thinking about media, i wanted to add Textiles in but also make them mixed media to show my development from Textiles to Fine Art.

Now my postcards are done, I feel quiet sad that i wont get to keep them, but it's become quiet therapeutic, to make something so personal and then send it on to be seen by others, but letting go of old feelings and emotions... I also like the idea that one day i might come across them again, but in a different chapter of my life, these will be something that i can reflect on.

Carol Parker - Visible Mending Artist Statement.

Artist Statement's: 

Day Two - The Visible Mending Project.

This exhibition will be at UCA Canterbury from:

(11th December 2015 - 25th January 2016)