PART 1: VISITS etc
EXHIBITION : SEEING RED ; CORK TEXTILES NETWORK 28TH OCT 2010
. This was held in the exhibition space in Bishopstown Library in Cork .It was a small exhibition with under 40 pieces on show. There were a number of textile processes used : dye, stitch, felting, screen printing, wire knitting, There was no explanation of the title of either the exhibition or individual pieces - but they all contained red .
My favourite piece was "Ciorcal Dearg" by Margaret Walsh. This was an abstract stitched piece which had a number of areas of interest:- a textured red circle and a grey batiked panel with an ornate border applied to a marbled background of grey, white and blackwith gold spirals used to unify the piece
I loved the depth and complexity of the tones and patterns and the balance overall . I found it a reflective and symbolic. It might take its inspiration from Newgrange and the Winter Solstice which would link the dramatic red sun with the burial chamber and the spirals of an ancient tomb.
Another piece I liked was "Roses are Red" by Arlene Shawcross. Very different to the last piece, this was a tableau of machine embroidered 3d velvet roses in vibrant pinks, reds, oranges and yellows on what looked like a felt and silk ground. I loved that this was vibrant, colourful ,sang of Summer and came out of the frame at you.
Craft Fair - Glucksmann Gallery, UCC, Cork 6th and 7th November
 |
| "Faded Splendour" by Carmel Creaner |
Great fair and happy to see a number of textile artists there - mainly screenprinting and felt . Bought two pieces for myself- one of each type.
Upcomimg : Cork Textiles Networks Conference - Function and Form in Modern Textiles, March 5th and 6th 2011.
Looking forward to this. Have applied for workshops on Sketchbooks for Textile Artists and Machine Embroidery.
Conference: Function and Form in Textiles Sat 5th March 2011.
I thoroughly enjoyed this conference.
I took a workshop in Sketchbook Drawing on the afternoon, but the highlights were the guest speakers
Deirdre Nelson gave a highly entertaining account of her journey in textiles: from her love of hand work, her appreciation of traditional methods and their context and her ability to weave art and textiles into the lives of the people around her.
She is interested in the people behind the textiles :eg in "The dangers of Knitting and Sewing" where after extensive research into traditional needlework and knitting she presented 20 "dangerous facts around the history of textiles.
As artist in residence, she delves into and uses art to illuminate the heart of what matters to a community eg in Sutherland, Scotland, she focussed on Handa Island, making links between the history of Scots emigration to Nova Scotia and Cape Breton and the reverse migration of birds to the Handa breeding grounds. She engaged the local communities by using traditional local knitting methods to fashion six life-like sea birds and worked with local children on related projects.
In her talk "Textiles: Ideas & Process".
Diana Harrison was compelling and gave us insight into the mind and methods of the artist. Here she outlined how things she encounters day to day and key events in her life feed her creative process. She explained how her textile process originated in quilting but has evolved to encompass dying and discharge, layering and screenprinting.
She is interested in the forgotten and discarded and sometimes stops to gather dead animals or old boxes from the margins of the road.
Aileen Johnston treated us to a sampling of " The Book of Hours". She explained that she has a background in illustration and how she loves the old books of hours with their colourful flowers and bees. Different to Deirdre Nelson, she prefers machine stitching and loves to sew freestyle without a hoop. She loves to use bright vibrant colours and snapshots in time.
Creating the book helped her through a difficult period in her life and brought its own reward when she won the overall RDS Award of Excellence and Calafornia Gold Medal.
Aileen was kind enough to bring the book along so we could admire it in the flesh....it was wonderful.
EXHIBITION : "TREAD SOFTLY" CCOI - CORK PUBLIC MUSEUM FRIDAY 25TH MARCH 2011
'Orbitus' by Liz Nilsson
Tread Softly
An exhibition of textiles by members of the Crafts Council of Ireland.
The Crafts Council of Ireland is delighted to co-ordinate the first exhibition of textiles in conjunction with our GANS members at Phoenix Park Visitor Centre.
The poetry of W. B. Yeats has been interpreted in many genres and has been a great source of inspiration for artists throughout the years. In this exhibition, Yeats poem ‘He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven’ (otherwise known as ‘Tread Softly’) has become a delightful and evocative source of inspiration for a number of textile makers working throughout Ireland, across a broad range of disciplines from feltmaking to patchwork.
The work in this exhibition was selected by Ann Mulrooney (Curator of the National Craft Gallery) and Angela O’Kelly (Designer, Jeweller and Curator).
The exhibition features work by: Carmel Creaner, Pascale de Coninck, Bernadette Falvey, Gina Faustino, Gillian Freedman, Louise Hardman, Amanda Kenny, Anne Kiely, Frances Leach, Jean McKenna, Beth Moran , Liz Nilsson, Helen O’Shea, Caroline Schofield, Arlene Shawcross, Lana Shuks, Lesley Stothers
My Notes
This exhibition began life at the Knitting and Stitch Show at the RDS in Dublin in Ocober 2010. It subsequently went to a number of venues before arriving in the Public Museum in Cork on March 4th 2011.
The venue was very sympathetic: the upstairs exhibition space was dedicated to the exhibition, pieces were well lit and well displayed with plenty of room to stand back and view the works.
Many techniques were represented (eg stitch, screenprinting, mixed media, weaving, moulding) and the it was very stimulating.
The works were inspired by Yeat's poem "He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven" (aka "Tread Softly") hence the title, and lines from the poem were printed on the walls as you entered.
While the theme was made explicit in the brochure, it would have been valuable if the artists could have explained how the poem informed their particular "cloths of heaven".
I attended the opening night, and while it was exciting, it was very busy and I couldn't get a good look at most works so I went back again during the day three weeks later and had a good look.
3 Pieces that caught my attention were
- "Dreams of Times Past" by Anne Kiely : a hand screen printed fabric with multiple elements superimposed to form a composite image. This represents a place caught in the memory...a crackled chair, a weathered shed and an overhanging tree. I find it expressive, evoking haunting memories of the childhood which may have inspired it.
- "Heaven's Embroidered Cloths" by Jean McKenna : these long narrow machine embroidered panels hung from floor to ceiling to the right as you entered and commanded attention from the back of the room. The stitching is sensitive, representing delicate plant forms in shades of blue and violet weaving their way towards the white heavens. It is this simplicity that I find appealing.
- "Fragility" by Arlene Shawcross : another stitched piece, but this time free machining on soluble fabric. This is an abstract piece: the main body of the work is a medley of shapes worked in midnight blue silk thread with tiny beads suspended almost by magic, by "invisible" threads. I would see it as symbolic of the fragility of our lives, hanging sometimes merely by a thread.
A fourth piece caught my attention "
Posthumous Memory" by Caroline Schofield : scarlet hand made felt moulded to form a pair of death masks. These were suspended mid air - most unsettling.
I could appreciate the mastery involved in their execution but they cut too close to the bone at the time.
The artists later won the first prize in the felting category at the RDS 2011 with a similar installation " Fault Line"
PART 2 - A TEXTILE PIECE AT HOME.
I chose to look at an Aran jumper that was knitted about 27 years ago.
Both my mum and I knitted one then, she for my brother and me for my boyfriend - now my long suffering husband.
This is the one I made, identifiable by a mistake in the cable on the back.
Aran jumpers are so called because they are said to be a derivative of the jumpers worn by the fishermen on the Aran Islands. They are highly textured heavy knit and incorporate a number of compex stitch patterns. While generally considered traditional wear, for a while in the eighties they were very fashionable.
The jumper I made was hand knitted in a cream bainin - the usual wool for this type of work. It incorporates a number of the traditional stitches - cables, diamonds, chains. It is chunkier and the patterns are more intricate than the machine made jumpers I've seen.
The jumper was worn by my husband for a number of years but no longer fits him...I held on to it because I couldn't bear to give it away.
Most Aran jumpers are knitted by women, in my case as a hobby, but there are women who knit for the export outlets, though more and more are using machines.
I love the texture and feel of the piece and after drawing it feel I know it even better than before.
Post script - Saw an Aran dress in a fashion show shot...check out who designed out.
PART 3 DIVERSITY IN
TEXTILES.
I made a collection of examples of furnishing fabrics from
magazines and books.
Looking at my research, traditional fabrics prevail
especially linen and cotton.
Reasons ?
- probably
mainly because the recession has brought a swing towards the simple and
the natural : bling is definitely out.
- Also
because I’ve selected / filtered the material based on my own preferences.
Printed fabrics certainly dominate the collection – I found
them everywhere and judging by how they’re presented in the magazines, they
seem to be very fashion led .
This is understandable as Chloe Colchester explains in “The
New Textiles” ..” Screen printing in
particular….did much to change attitudes towards both furnishing fabrics and
their manufacture. Printed fabrics do not wear as well as woven designs, but
since they are cheaper to replace consumers soon warmed to the idea of changing
the appearance of their home interiors every year or so rather than once every
decade”.
Other textile techniques were less ubiquitous:
Stitched Fabrics
– mainly tablecloths, cushions and some bed linen
Manipulated Fabrics-
mainly quilts and cushions…some lamp shades
Textile Structures – mainly
rugs and blankets.
The fabrics I found most interesting were those mentioned by
Chloe Colchester in her section on “ Futuristic Fabrics : Transparent and
Light-sensitive surfaces”.
I love both ideas i.e fabrics that reveal and allow me to
look through and fabrics that respond to their environment.
I was very taken with Sally Greaves Lord’s silk banners
which can “project colour into a room
and Stephen French’s fabrics which “change
colour as the viewer moves around the room” eg “Lenticular Screen Upholstery”.
PART 4 : CRAFT
BASED TEXTILES
1. Look
at the diversity of textiles which are craft-based in their production.
Craft produced textiles cover a wide range
of techniques and hold a special place in our society.
For generations, women produced craft
textiles such as quilts, embroidery and knitwear as part of their day to day
domestic activities. However, by the time I was attending school in the late
1960s and early 70s, many of these traditions had all but died out in the home and
the first contact I and many others had with textile crafts was through painful
domestic science classes in primary school.
Across Ireland today, textile craft covers
a broad spectrum., from the incidental hobbyist to the dedicated skilled crafts
person and in more recent years there
seems to be a heightened appreciation for high quality, hand crafted product.
In fact the Crafts Council of Ireland (CCOI) have identified from recent
research that there is a niche for more high end work and are working with
crafts people to exploit this opportunity.
The CCOI has 2,300 members, 453 of whom are
listed under Textile Making with a further 30 listed under Basketry. The
textiles listing covers dying, felting, knitting / crochet, stitch, surface
patterned, painting, print and quilting, though to be honest knitwear
predominates.
2. Recent
history of craft textiles: notes from “The New Textiles “ by Chloe Colchester.
I was interested to read that it was
through the counter cultural movements of the 60s and 70s that interest in
crafts was revived, with a shift from studio based to more popularized
production.
( I certainly remember my mother digging
out her knitting and crochet needles and I have a set of “Golden Hands”
magazines she collected at that time which feature everything from macramé
jackets to crocheted cutlery holders).
However , there was also a revival in the
crafts of quilting and embroidery with the Whitney Musuem of American Art in
New York staging a major exhibition of antique quilts in 1971. The exhibition,
“Abstract Design in American Quilts”,
for the first time, presented quilts as an art form”.
Around this time some women began to see
these crafts as political media: their skill based techniques and collaborative
nature expressing “a selflessness at odds with the competitive ego centric
individuality of male artists”.
For these ideological reasons, quilting and
sewing were incorporated into the work of many feminist artists and were used
to express many perspectives:
- commitment to the feminist ideology eg Judy Chicago’s “Dinner
Party
- cultural perspective eg Faith Ringgold’s “Subway Graffiti # 2”
- opposition to nuclear arms eg the Pentagon Peace Ribbon
- the repressive use of craft eg Lynn Malcolm’s “The Subversive
Stitch”.
Some other quilt artists used quilting in a
non-political way, bending the rules and developing their own personal
approaches eg Nancy Crow and Pamela Studsill from the U.S. and Pauline Burbidge
from Great Britain.
Another development was the scaling down of
work: large scale art had been the thing in the 60s/70s but in 1974 Ann Sutton
staged “The First International Exhibition of Miniature Textiles” with entries
having a maximum size of 20 cm sq. The exhibition was enthusiastically received
with the public interacting more intimately and playfully with the pieces. The
works of two American embroiderers, Mary Brero and Tom Lundberg are good
examples .
By
the early 70s , the crafts were alive and well, with craft galleries beginning
to pop up. These tended to “assert the quality and status of craftwork by
promoting the names of certain individual craftspeople, who, in response, began
to produce more elitist, one-off items. Combine this with a strong contemporary
art market and collecting became “big business”.
At the same time as the galleries were
promoting individual art-based craft, there was a revival in interest in
traditional craft methods. Chloe Colchester sees this as a significant
development, whereas” the textile crafts had been predominantly influenced by
contemporary art; in the last decade this process was reoriented as craft and,
to a certain extent, art became focused on design”.
3. Why
do craft-produced textiles maintain a place in our society?
Chloe Colchester in “The New Textiles” says
that “ a principal function of the craft movement in industrial societies has
been to provide an alternative aesthetic to that of main stream mass-produced
goods.” She also highlights that “there is an increasing convergence between
craft and design” but that “ contemporary crafts have ..developed at a tangent
from – and also as an alternative to – the traditional crafts” being different
in that “they are practiced self-consciously, largely (though not exclusively)
by art-school educated members of the middle class” supplying “on the whole…contemplational
objects”.
More recently, “By Hand
- The Use of Craft in Contemporary Art” edited by Hung and Magliaro
asserts that in the last number of years artists and designers began to “rebel
against the ubiquity and singularity of mass production and digital technology”
but that “what differentiates these artists from their more politically overt
forebears of the 1970s is their emphasis on personal experiences rather than on
a collective social message.”
(Note: I particularly like
Rowena Drings
appliqués eg “Willow and Waters” and “Room 01”,
BB&PPINC
s “The Party Book” and “The Bird Book”
Rob
Wynnes”Thread Drawings”).
Certainly craft produced textiles meet this
need for an authentic personal experience.
Also there has been a back lash against the
conspicuous over consumption of the tiger years with a resurgence in interest
in the hand – made and upcycled.
To my mind, a further reason craft based
textiles have maintained such a strong foothold in our society is their basis
in the feminine tradition. While in the developed world, they are no longer
produced “in the fulfillment of domestic duties. ( C Colchester)”, I believe they still have a great resonance for
many women and are perceived to have quality, authenticity and heritage.
When it comes to spend, women would be the
main budget holders for items falling under the craft textile umbrella and while
this may be what has helped craft textiles to maintain a foothold in our
society, the challenge is to make them more relevant to a greater sector of the
population, ie men and the youth.
This gender bias seems to apply to craft in
general, based on research conducted in 2010 on behalf of the British Crafts
Council by Morris Hargreaves McIntyre.
In
“Consuming Craft: the contemporary craft market in a changing economy” , Some
of the main findings were that those in the craft market (i.e. buyers and potential buyers of craft items)
- are more likely to be female (57% compared
to 35% of those not in the market),
- are twice as likely to be culturally active than the population
as a whole
- are more likely to have general or specialist knowledge about
cultural subjects, and to have some type of professional or academic
interest in cultural subjects”
When it comes to buyers specifically,…”
·
They are slightly older
than potential buyers: 53% are aged 45 or above.
·
They are more likely to
work in the education, health and charity sectors.
·
They are more frequent
attendees at a wider range of cultural events.
·
They are more likely to be
working in craft or related sectors: 1 in 20 state a professional or academic
involvement with craft.”
From my experience, the gender bias may be
even more pronounced when it comes to the area of craft textiles where those exhibiting
at and attending events are predominantly women.
4. Current Developments on
Craft in Ireland
YEAR OF CRAFT 2011
the Crafts Council of Ireland and Craft
northern Ireland have designated 2011 as Year of Craft. the year marks the 40th
anniversary of the Crafts Council of Ireland and will be celebrated through a
diverse range of dynamic events and programmes to showcase the very best of
craft made on the island of Ireland.
activities will include everything from
exhibitions and open studios to lectures and workshops for craft enthusiasts of
all ages.
RECENT REPORT… positive about growth opportunities in the Irish craft sector.
Extract
from “Economic Significance and
Potential of the Crafts Sector in Ireland”
Report ForThe Crafts Council of Ireland Prepared
By Indecon International Economic Consultants
Indecon found that….
“While there are major challenges facing
the industry there is also potential for growth and for the sector to expand
exports, output and employment. Market research undertaken by The Research
Perspective also uggests that the sector believes there is potential for
significant further growth.In particular, the sector believes that with
appropriate supports there would be potential to secure a 63% increase in sales…… In line with the prudent approach taken
throughout this study, our analysis assumes that only 65.5% of expected sales
growth will be realised. In other words, sales will only increase by 41.26%.”
Key Conclusions
- Our analysis has demonstrated that even using a narrow
definition of the craft sector, the sector is a significant source of
skilled employment and makes an important contribution to output and
exports. The sector employs a larger number of people than was previously
assumed.
- The number of students graduating from Post Leaving
Certificate, Institute of Technology or other third level colleges in
craft related subjects represents an important resource for the sector.
Unless opportunities are created for some of these students it would
represent a potential waste of the investment in these skills.
- The design sector is an important component of the craft
industry both in Ireland and internationally and an integration of
supports for the wider craft and design sector would have value.
- The sector is facing a
challenging market environment but there is potential for an increase in
the number of full time jobs in the sector if craft businesses are
facilitated to secure an increased share of the Irish market and to
develop existing and new export markets. This would, however, require
on-going supports and Indecon believes this potential could only be
realised over the medium term.”
Comment
Possibly influenced by point 3 above? the
CCOI at their June AGM proposed a change of name to “Design and Crafts Council
of Ireland”. This met with some resistance from some existing members, who may
have felt there was a risk of reduced support for tradition craft based
enterprises. The resolution has been postponed pending further discussion.
5.
Interview with Craftsperson – Arlene Shawcross
Extract from CCOI Website
Completed teacher training in Bath, U.K. in 1973 with main subjects in Education, Music and Design.
Licentiateship of Trinity College of Music in Piano Teaching 1987
City and Guilds qualifications in Creative Embroidery, 1991 and 1993 at Fareham College
Diploma in Stitched Textiles with distinction from East Berkshire College Windsor in 1999 Moved to Ireland in 2008 Member of the Society of Designer Craftsmen in U.K.,the Textile Society, Cork Textiles Network and Irish Patchwork Society
I have exhibited widely in Ireland and the U.K. Mairin O'Brien Flegg Memorial Award for contemporary embroidery from the RDS 2011
Interview
I met Arlene when I decided to take her workshops in free machine embroidery.
I had already come across her work at the "Seeing Red" exhibition in Bishopstown - her piece "Roses are Red" was one of the works I liked.
She also exhibited in the "Tread Softly " exhibition and later won the Mairin O'Brien Flegg Memorial Award for her piece "Blue Lagoon" in contemporary embroidery from the RDS in 2011.
Arlene always loved threads and textiles and used to spend her pocket money on stranded threads and pom poms.
She got the love of sewing from her gradmother who had a sewing machine and Arlene learned to make dolls clothes and even her first dress.
She attended teaching College majoring in Music and took an extended course in Design, which led to her first textile piece.
She then went on to teach music at a Rudolf Steiner School.
Arlene later gave up teaching when her children arrived.
After some time she took embroidery workshops in handstitching. She returned to teaching part-time but also started the City and Guilds in Embroidery and broadened her repertoire to include free machine embroidery. She began to teach embroidery.
She completed a Diploma in Stitched Textiles with Jean Littlejohn after which she interviewed for and was accepted by the Society of Designer Craftsment (SDC).
She was awarded a distinction for her work and started exhibiting work and taught higher level City and Guilds.
In 2008, she came to Ireland, to live in Lissarda, Co. Cork.
She joined the Cork Textiles Network and started to exhibit and to give classes in free machine embroidery.
She has also joined the Irish Patchwork Society ...more to meet people and make friends.
Her favourite types of work are
- free machining on soluble fabric
- roses ( her second name is Aurelia, which means Rose) - her initial inspiration for these came from wrought iron.
- color and texture, dying and working with velvets
6.
Extracts from CCOI website
“ABOUT THE CRAFTS COUNCIL OF IRELAND
The Crafts Council of Ireland (CCoI) is the main champion of the craft industry
in Ireland, fostering its growth and commercial strength, communicating its
unique identity and stimulating quality design, innovation and competitiveness.
CCoI's activities are funded by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and
Innovation via Enterprise
Ireland.
CCoI curently holds over 2300 members in its register of craft enterprise.
The Craft Industry
The major sectors within the Irish craft industry are pottery, glass,
jewellery, textiles (particularly knitwear) and furniture. Irish craft
businesses are characteristically small in scale and are geographically
widespread, but taken nationally the industry is a significant employer, while
also providing viable, sustainable enterprises in all areas, including those
isolated rural communities ignored as unsuitable by other manufacturing
sectors..
HISTORY OF THE CRAFTS COUNCIL OF IRELAND
The Crafts Council of Ireland (CCoI) is the
national design and economic development organisation for the craft industry in
Ireland. Its activities are funded by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and
Employment via Enterprise Ireland.
The Crafts Council of Ireland was founded in 1971 following a visit by the
World Crafts Council (WCC) the previous year. Bringing the WCC Conference to
Ireland was organised by the Irish Society for Design and Craftwork, Dr Muriel
Gahan, the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) and Blanaid Reddin among others. It was
an event which inspired many and which resulted in the formation of the Crafts
Council of Ireland as a voluntary body under the chairmanship of Frank Sutton,
with a committee of honorary officials. The RDS provided office facilities and
met all secretarial expenses. Subscriptions were raised by members.
In 1976 CCoI became a Limited Company. Funding was received from the Minister
for Industry and Commerce, Justin Keating, and from the Industrial Development
Authority and it employed a staff of two at Thomas Prior House, Ballsbridge.
Its brief was to work for the improvement of standards in craft and the welfare
of craftspeople and to act as advisors to the Government in matters concerning
crafts. In 1977, Showcase began as the National Crafts Trade Fair with 34
exhibitors.
From 1973 to 1983, a Management Committee of fifteen people was elected by
ballot at the CCoI’s Annual General Meeting to devise policy and oversee its
implementation by the Secretariat. In 1983, however, the Articles of
Association were amended to allow the Minister for Industry and Commerce to
nominate five members of the Management Committee, while the remaining ten
members continued to be elected by CCoI members. Elections are held annually,
when the three longest serving elected members retire by rotation. Ministerial
appointments are for a period of three years.
In 1986, the HQ in Powerscourt Townhouse Centre in Dublin city centre became
home to the Crafts Council of Ireland’s central administration, a large
exhibition gallery and retail shop. The venue hosted many selected and themed
exhibitions showing Irish and International work. Crafts Council of Ireland
business and skills training, initiated in Kilworth Co. Cork in 1981, moved to
the former KDW workshops in Castle Yard, Kilkenny in 1989.
In 1997 the retail activity ceased and reduced gallery activities were put in
place from Design Yard in Temple Bar for about a year. All administration
activity transferred permanently to Kilkenny.
The opening of the National Craft Gallery in 2000 marked a new era for the
Crafts Council of Ireland, providing a new and permanent exhibition space for
craft in Ireland.
Over the years, the aims and objectives of the Crafts Council of Ireland have
evolved and grown to meet the needs of the industry and to ensure its continued
growth and development. CCoI’s third Strategic Plan 2007 - 2009 clearly
outlines its policy objectives and maps out the activities until the end of
2009.
KEY DATES
1971 Crafts Council of Ireland set up in Dublin under the auspices of the RDS
1976 Became a limited not-for-profit company
1976 Showcase Ireland Trade Fair started
1986 Moved to Powerscourt Townhouse Centre, Dublin
1997 Moved from Dublin to Castle Yard, Kilkenny
2000 Opened National Craft Gallery, Kilkenny
PART 5 - THE WORK OF THE TEXTILE ARTIST
Textile artists, designers ands designer maker or craftspeople all work in the realm of textiles however there can be major differences in approach and intent.
I think what mainly distinguishes the textile artist from other textile practitioners is that they use textiles as a medium to communicate their vision. As Elfi Knoche Wendel said “ I make use of the thread and of woven structures as a means of expression, not merely as an instrument to translate a picture”
This differs hugely from both the designer, who is focused on the needs of the consumer / market and the craftsperson, who is very focused on the skill and craftsmanship involved in the making process itself.
Another difference frequently would be that of scale : the scale of works by designers and craftspeople can be dictated largely by the end consumer, whereas for textile artists, scale talks to the concept and can even be a key part of the message. Many artists such as Knoch Wendel, Mitsuo Toyazaki and Patricia Campbell worked on a very large scale. In the 1970s, large textile hangings found favour with modernist architects “who used them to enervate featureless rooms built in the modernist style”
Today however, the tables have turned somewhat with textile artists such as Janel Echelman producing monumental works which redefine architectural spaces.
While the differences between textile artists and other textile practicioners are marked, there are however many crossovers with materials approach and technique often very similar: the textile artists may start with textile processes which they then explore and exploit, reinterpreting and pushing the boundaries to produce their art.
For example, Lenore Tawney’s Cloud Series consisted of thousands of finely knotted linen threads suspended from the ceiling. Chloe Colchester in “The New Textiles” said “this progressive dematerialization of her work was seen as evidence of its transformation from weaving into fibre art” .
Lenore Tawney - Cloud Series VII – WCSU
ARTISTS WHOSE WORK I ADMIRE
I have chosen two contrasting artists whose work I find inspiring.
MICHAEL BRENNAND WOOD is a mixed media artist who has been a major force in the British textiles art movement since the late 1970’s. His works appeal to me because of their resonance which derives from the juxtaposition of interesting materials and archeological layering of media and meaning.
His earlier works, such as “Talk- talk” ,“Cast of Thousands” and “Slow Turning”were assembled from superimposed painted wooden grids interlaced with threads, remnants of fabric and elements of text.
SLOW TURNING 1989
In his artist’s statement for “Cloth and Culture NOW”, a major textile exhibition in 2008, he said that the defining characteristic of his work “has been a sustained commitment to the conceptual synthesis of contemporary and historical sources”.
He also revealed that the two primal materials in his work, textile and wood, relate directly to his maternal grandparents. His grandmother worked in an industrial mill in Lancashire and by age 10 he had been introduced to cloth, knitting and sewing. His grandfather, an engineer, introduced him to wood and metal based technologies. He said “As a young child I vacillated between both his Grandparents constructing all manner of objects and artworks. This early introduction to textiles and wood developed an appreciation of dualities…. I enjoy the frisson that emanates when unexpected materials are combined.”
According to his website “I have persistently worked within contested areas of textile practice, embroidery, pattern, lace and recently floral imagery. I have explored and developed my own techniques inventing many new and imaginative ways of integrating textiles with other media.
He feels the sensory nature of textile art is very important “We understand deeper levels of meaning in greater depth, through the employment of both our sensory and intellectual selves”.
'Died Pretty- A Flag 0f Convenience' 113 x 166 x 10 cm, 2005.
Recent work inspired by traditions of floral imagery have utilised computerised machine embroidery, acrylic paint, wood, glass and collage. Exploring the illusionary space between two and three dimensions, these works are colourful, dramatic, rhythmic and holographic in feel with intense detail that merges at a distance into strongly optical configurations.”
In an interview with “Ideas in the Making”as “Maker of the Month” in February of this year he said “the work can be read on several levels and I like the interplay between the micro and macro readings of the work. From a distance it looks purely decorative, but as you get closer you can see the details and understand it on a different level. I like the idea of going into the work, there’s almost a hallucinogenic quality to some of my recent pieces – you enter a different world. I’m interested in abstraction and enjoy seeing what you can do optically with rhythm and colour, but the abstraction still has a meaning and is not just playing with pattern. I hope my work makes people think. It’s very rich and you can go into to it and get a lot out of it over a long time.”
JANET ECHELMAN is an American artist specializing in public art installations and sculpture who uses fibres to shape and define architectural spaces.
As Bradley Quinn says in “Contemporary Textiles” …”Through her art , Echelman redefines urban spaces with monumental public sculptures made of diaphanous nets that move and change shape with the elements.”
Her vast works appeal to me because they look to the skies, deriving much of their energy and impact from the movement of currents of air and the interplay of light and shade.
Using modern lightweight materials such as TENARA architectural fiber (a UV-resistant material made of PTFE) she describes how the materials and structure interact with currents of air as “wind choreography “ and finds that strong fibres combined with lightweight fabrics are the ideal materials for her art.
Light is also an important component, with sunlight casting light and shadows by day and floodlights transforming the works by night. The shadows cast by her works are a further dimension.
Every Beating Second 2011
Echelman was commissioned to create the sculpture in the newly renovated Terminal 2 of the San Francisco Airport.
An extract from her website describes the installation as follows:
Artist Janet Echelman transforms the terminal with fictional nature that subtly engages viewers with real and imagined natural forces. Her sculpture installation cuts three round skylights into the ceiling, from which descend delicate layers of translucent colored netting to create three voluptuous volumetric forms. A series of shaded outlines below are embedded into the terrazzo floor, reflecting the precise shadows that would occur on the summer solstice if the sun could penetrate through the roof. During the day, sun streams through the skylights to cast real shadows that interplay with the fictional shadows in the floor. At night, the artist’s program of colored lighting makes the sculpture glow from indigo to purple, magenta to red-orange. Computer-programmed mechanized air-flow animates the fluidly-moving sculpture at different intervals throughout the day, as if the wind could magically flow through solid walls.
The artist achieved the sculpture’s physical presence by braiding fibers and knotting twine into sculptural netting suspended from powder-coated steel armatures. Despite their large scale, more than 120 feet in circumference for a single form, her sculpture is experienced as ephemeral and weightless. Visually, the sculpture evokes the contours and colors of cloud formations over the Bay and hints at the silhouette of the Golden Gate Bridge. Aesthetically, the sculpture looks both backwards and forwards, drawing its color from the heyday of psychedelic music, the Summer of Love, and San Francisco's prominence in the beat poetry movement, while also referencing the contemporary bay area as a hub of innovation and interconnectivity for the world of technology.
The title, Every Beating Second, referring to a line by beat poet Allen Ginsberg, represents the artist’s interest in heightening awareness of the present moment:
live
in the physical world
moment to moment
I must put down
every recurring thought—
stop every beating second (11-16)
She Changes, 2005
According to Bradley Quinn in “Contemporary Textiles”,,, “ Echelmann skyrocketed to fame when she completed the extraordinary wind structure “She Changes” on the waterfront in Porto” It was the result of a collaboration with a textile manufacturer, an architext and a software developer.
She Changes is a waterfront sculpture commissioned by the governments of Porto and Matosinhos, Portugal, secribed on her website as follows:
Description
Using color and material to invoke the memory of the site’s history as a fishing and industrial center, this three-dimensional multi-layer net floats over the Cidade Salvador Plaza. This work is credited as the first permanent, monumental public sculpture to use an entirely soft and flexible set of membranes moving fluidly in wind. The work casts cinematic shadow drawings onto the ground further highlighting the “wind choreography.” The the city has made the sculpture its graphic symbol. When interviewed, local people give different interpretations of the work, from fishing nets, ships and masts of the Portuguese maritime history, the red-and-white striped smokestacks of the area’s industrial past, to Portuguese lace, sea creatures, and ripples in water.
Three steel poles, ranging in height from 25 to 50 meters, are painted white with red stripes to reference nearby smokestacks and lighthouses. These poles support a 20 ton steel ring, 45 meters in diameter, from which the net weighing about one ton is suspended. The ring greets the ocean at a slant, ranging from 13.5 meters off of the ground at the lowest point and 27 meters at the highest. The smokestack reference is continued through the red and white stripes of the net.
The net is comprised of 36 individual mesh sections in different densities, hand-joined along all sides into a multi-layered form. The net material is TENARA® architectural fiber, a 100% UV-resistant, colorfast fiber made of PTFE (poly-tetra-fluoro-ethylene), the substance most widely known as the non-stick cooking surface Teflon®.
MY VIEW OF TEXTILE ART
In “The New Textiles” chapter on Textile Art, Chloe Colchester raises the question “ Was fibre art “art”?” stating “The question became, and has remained, a moot point” in 1986 the critic Edward Lucie-Smith stated that “any distinction between art and craft rested entirely on the intentions of the maker” and a different view was voiced in “The Institutional Theory of Art” asserting that an object was only art if the institutions deemed it so. Institutions rarely supported the fibre arts and so the craft council and museum infrastructure was what mainly supported them through the 60s and 70s.
However, now in the 21st century, textiles seem to have arrived, according to Nadine Monem , editor of “Contemporary Textiles – The Fabric of Fine Art”….”From their beginnings in craft-art and the decorative, textiles have fast become the fabric of fine art.”
Personally, I view textile art in the same way as I as do painting or sculpture, which have traditionally been considered the stuff of fine art. If anything textiles have the potential to enrich our experience of art.
I think recognition of textiles is slowly emerging but hasn’t yet found a firm foothold in the fine art establishment. Smaller galleries in my area support textile artists but I haven’t seen textile work in the larger establishments.
But it’s coming…
Appendices
Sources
http://www.transitionandinfluence.com
The New Textiles – Chloe Colchester
Contemporary Textiles – The Fabric of Fine Art edited by Nadine Monem
Michael Brennand Wood - About the artist – Extract from
The two primal materials in his work, textile and wood relate directly to his maternal Grandparents. His grandmother worked in an industrial mill in Lancashire and by age 10 he had been introduced to cloth, knitting and sewing. His grandfather, an engineer, introduced him to wood and metal based technologies. As a young child he vacillated between both his Grandparents constructing all manner of objects and artworksCloth is literally saturated with meaning; it charts our passage through life, records, documents and celebrates our personalities. It is a tactile record of associative experiences and sensory triggers.
Since 1979 he has occupied a central position in the research, origination and advocacy of contemporary International Art Textiles. He has exhibited in major galleries and museumsworld wide, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa and National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
His work can be seen in private, public and corporate collections worldwide. He won The Creative Concept Award in 1987 and The Fine Art Award in 1989 at the International Textile Competition in Kyoto, followed by the first RSA Art for Architecture Award 1990. In 1990 he was awarded a Distinguished Visiting Fellow, British Council, City University, Kyoto, Japan. In 1992 he was 1st Prize Winner at the 3rd International Betonac Prize in Belgium.
In 1982 he curated the controversial exhibition ‘Fabric and Form’ and co-curated the ‘Makers Eye’ both for the Crafts Council, followed in 1992 with ‘Restless Shadows’ a major Goldsmiths College touring exhibition of contemporary Japanese Textiles. Until 1989 he was a senior lecturer in the department of visual art at GoldsmithsCollege, University of London. He has taught extensively in colleges and universities in the UK and overseas, and has undertaken residencies in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Belgium.
From 2001-08 he was awarded an Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB) Fellowship in the Creative and Performing Arts in conjunction with the University of Ulster to research geometrical complexity in Central Asian textiles at Ulster University, Belfast. In 2007 he won the Fine Art Award, Phaff Art Embroidery Still Life in France.
He is currently Visiting Professor at Manchester Metropolitan University.
He has recently competed two new works for the Yorkshire Cancer Centre in Leeds and developed an interdisciplinary arts programme for Colston Hall, a music venue in Bristol.
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Rivane Neuenschwander…Current IMMA exhibition I Wish Your Wish, 2003, is based on a tradition at a church in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, where the faithful tie silk ribbons to their wrists and to the gates of the church; and, according to tradition, their wishes are granted when the ribbons wear away and fall off. At IMMA hundreds of similar ribbons are printed with visitors’ wishes from Neuenschwander’s past projects exhibited elsewhere. Visitors are invited to remove a ribbon from the wall and tie it around their wrist. According to Brazilian tradition, the wish is granted when the ribbon wears away and falls off. In exchange, the artist asks you to write your wish on the paper available and insert it in the ribbon hole. The artist collects your wishes and some are added to the work when next the piece is exhibited again.
My note : not a “textiles” artist but ivery interesting
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