Group exhibition at the STEW Gallery Space in Norwich featuring the work of 12 graduates (most of whom are NUCA MA Graduates).
It was decided that the show would be called "WET" in reference to the Gallery's location next to the river.
LAST DAY OF “WET”
28.06.09
Today is the last day of WET and I have been invigilating, which is a tough job because it is a very beautiful sunny day out there. It’s been fairly quiet, and this seems to happen with most exhibitions of this nature; the private view is packed and vibrant, and the rest of the week is incredibly quiet. My view is that most people within our art-world circle will come to the private view if they are planning to see the exhibition.
My work seems to go by relatively unnoticed – this is either because it is not that spectacular or that it is so well integrated into the fabric of the architecture. I’ll go with the latter as I think a bright red line splitting the exhibition space in two is quite a striking thing. This tends to be the way with all of my work, particularly those pieces that have a strong relationship with the space that surrounds them. A number of people will overlook it, but those who do see it are rewarded with knowing that they have seen more. I wonder if I should do anything about this, or if it would change my practice? Perhaps I need to change the mechanisms that surround my work instead?
I’ll be taking the work down tonight, and I always feel a sense of relief as I do this. Relief that we did it, pulled it off – but I also get closure and can move onto the next project…
Ah ha, some people have spotted my line! They are walking along it, tracing it. I like that. She looks quite pleased with herself!
As i was saying, i’m ready to move onto the next thing now, which is the Art Week in Finland. I have really enjoyed working with the other Artists, our conversations and the challenges surrounding WET, and exhibiting in the STEW Gallery space.
PHEW! I’ve done it! Exhibition is up, work is installed, i just need to write something intelligent about it now.
Private View is tomorrow night (6 – 8pm) Join the Facebook Event page:
Its 10.00pm; 12 hours until we begin installing WET. I still don’t know what im installing, im very anxious but assure myself that this is completely normal for me. It doesn’t help.
In between various “outreach” activities at work, i dyed my worsted fabric with madder in the Textile Workshop. I quite like natural dyes, there’s a recipe but it doesn’t need following too tightly. Madder really stinks. i found it quite hard to work with as it steamed away, and that was only a bucket worth of madder – imagine how smelly the Textile Dye industry probably was. I took the bucket back to my studio and its still soaking, so i should have a really deep red by tomorrow.
This evening i have been tracing the locations of Textile Mills and Workshops in Norwich from the 19th Century, i made a map and this proves that the River Wensum was central in the Textile Industry. I feel the map is necessary as it offers the viewer a clue into my research, but i don’t like how i have drawn it – i will redo it in the morning.
I don’t expect that i will do much installing tomorrow, mostly sitting, watching and thinking about what i will display to evidence this research – and i feel that it needs to look like research. My work will happen on Saturday night as i process the days thoughts, and realise them on Sunday during installation.
Looking forward to seeing everyone else tomorrow, and seeing their resolved interpretations of “WET”.
– The worsted is soaking in an alum mordant, tomorrow i will soak it in madder to make it red.
– i’ve bought some trestle table legs as am interested in displaying some “research” or “process” work – as this has formed the bulk of my investigation
– And i’ve decided that i want to do some drawings
– private view is in 3 days time
UNDERSTANDING PROCESS
I have never ventured into natural dye techniques before, but luckily i work at an Art College where there are people who can help me during my lunch break…!
Natural dye reacts most effectively when applied to natural fabrics, and by looking at the sample book in the workshop, wool and silk fabrics achieve the deepness of red that i am hoping to get from my raw madder. The workshop has a worsted that i will use, and this ties into a lot of my research around the yarns and fabrics that were used for the Norwich Shawls. The dye needs a mordant to fix it into the fabric, we have hard water in Norwich and this is why madder took to the fabric so well here during the peak of the Textile Industry. This can be enhanced by adding copper, aluminium or iron to the water – we tried a few samples today and they all came out very differently. I think that i will go with aluminium as this produces a scarlet red whereas copper is rusty and iron is plum in colour.
I need to check the sizes of my pieces before we start dyeing on a big scale later in the week. As with all my previous projects, it is the process which i am finding most engaging right now. i don’t know where it will take me, but im excited by its potential.
As an MA Textile Culture graduate i am interested in materials, surfaces and lines. I often make installation and assemblage work, featuring the drawn line and found or off-the-peg materials. The work references modernity, transit and our relationship to the built environment around us. I make site-responsive works and rely heavily on extensive research before i start making, drawing or arranging.I studied MA Textile Culture (full time) at Norwich University College of the Arts and graduated with Distinction in September 2008. I now work as the College's Outreach Officer and continue my practice in my new studio, also in Norwich.
