Wednesday, 2 May 2012

Patternity Website

Light Dots, Travis Rathbone
Pavement
Kai Z Feng, Polka Dots

Mark suggested this website to me and it is absolutely fab girls! There is something on there for everybody. Pattern is everywhere shown above. I'm trying to use my photographs now to pick out the patterns I see in them and the shapes I notice that can be repeated to make a pattern. Exciting Girls!!!

ssshhh...its a secret!!

I'm really happy about the responce I have had from my wish boxes so far..so far I have had wishes that have ranged from being light hearted to tear jerking!
I have been influenced by PostSecret, which is an ongoing community arts project created by Frank Warren, in which people send their their secrets anoymously on a postcard, which are often beautifully crafted.
This music video, (link below) 'Dirty Little Secret', by the All American Rejects displays these postcards very characteristically!

Elaine Hughes & Angela Davies



In the Uni library I spotted this exhibition, which I thought was gorgeous. 
Its by two artists, Elaine Hughes and Angela Davies
its called:
Marking moments: A Years Journey in the Life of an Artist

They were given a brief to produce two books marking the course of their year, they worked on a page a month.
It started with setting themselves a theme to think about and respond to: cakes flowers, words from a song, even the Royal wedding.
It then evolved into something more personal, they created pages that reflected what they were thinking about or what was happening in their lives that particular month.
I love the quirkiness of this project, it feels spontaneous and fun, the collection of material has been well thought out and works together  
Very inspiring........!


Tuesday, 1 May 2012

Basso and Brooke

The shapes on the fabric flow incredibly in these pictures. Movement could be something to consider when displaying work.
Check out these beautiful prints girls! If you go onto this link you can see the original prints before they were transferred onto fabric. 

Printeresting Collage


Polymer Plate Print, Blend Roll, Printeresting.
It's so exciting to see how artists use print as just one part of their work, collage is a popular method used in the 21st century. I really enjoyed playing about with it on foundation. If you are stuck for inspiration or playing with materials try cutting out magazines you have and insert them into the game, its interesting what outcomes you can get or how it influences your work.

Also think about what foundation to work on, here is a glass sample I did on foundation!


Thoughts and stories in thread and paper for Hannah

Tilleke Schwarz


My work is a mixture of graphic quality, content and fooling around. The humour in my work is typical for my Jewish background: a mixture of a laugh and a tear. Folk art and daily life are great sources for inspiration. I use mixed media with a focus on embroidery on linen and on drawings and paintings.
My work can be understood as a kind of visual poetry. It is a mixture of contemporary influences, graffiti, icons, texts and traditional images from samplers. The embroidery contains narrative elements. Not really complete stories, with a beginning, a storyline, and an end. On the contrary, the narrative structures are used as a form of communication with the viewer.
The viewer is invited to decipher connections or to create them. The viewer may assemble the stories and to produce chronological and causal structures. Actually the viewer might step into the role of the "author". It can become a kind of play between the viewer and me. The work also relates to the history of humanity that is determined through stories.


This is a miniature piece


Her website design is lovely, worth a visit just to see it.


Jessica Rankin



 

Rankin’s hand-embroidered panels of organdy resume her exploration of memory, geographic displacement and the passage of time.
Meandering between diaristic excerpts, poetic interludes and philosophical proposals, Rankin’s meticulously stitched textual patterns produce a field of non-linear associations, Rankin integrates text and image to construct what she refers to as “brainscapes,” which function as abstract portraits of journeys, both physical and mental. In reference to past work, this new series of embroidery works were completed with a looser, more painterly approach with threads hanging from the organdy canvas. Delicately pinned an inch away from the wall, the translucent sheets of organdy allow Rankin’s handiwork to cast shadows, thereby adding a further level of depth and definition.
Exhibition: YOUR SKY  July 07 2005 - July 29 2005   The Project gallery New York

Yvette Hawkins





Yvette Hawkins: embroidered book sculpture made especially for the exhibition “All The Books I Have Never Finished” at The Gallery of Wonder, Newcastle University, UK.
"This embroidered book sculpture shown above consists of a book cut up and sewn back together around an embroidery circle. It was created especially for an exhibition at The Gallery of Wonder (Newcastle University) in the UK. I think it’s a very impressive piece and the story behind it shows Yvette’s deep interest also in the history of book and paper arts. She explains that “Traditionally women only folded and sewed pages of books in book binding, they were not allowed to make the covers of books, known as ‘casing in’ as it was seen as shameful. These sculptures reflect the work women undertook, using only folding and sewing, an act that mirrored their role in the domestic home. (…) The pages of the book are unreadable in the same way the stitching of the pages or ‘signatures’ would be concealed by the covers that would be made by men.”
I saw this and thought it was an amazing way to present many pages together. I like the way she has secured the paper sheets by coloured stitches on an embroidery hoop, a simple but effective way to hold the papers together. The  pages make a lovely form, looking  almost like a solid object. It reminded me of the card index holders Kate was describing today. There are some interesting images on the blogsite if  anyone has the time to browse!



Cobbles


Whilst observing various areas around Manchester, the more I have noticed the hidden history on the roads.
 I love cobbled roads, and the way they cheekily peek through worn holes n the tarmac.Giving us a glimpse of the past.
The history survives under a thin layer, why do we bother covering them up, in such a ugly way? Can you imagine how long it took to lay these beautiful roads?
Ok, they are not the best with high heels, and force you to drive slower, is that so bad?