Well, that’s interesting – last time I wrote I was complaining that I was not being committed to my practice. Well that phase doesn’t seem to have lasted! I haven’t been able to write my blog because the lovely Bob has been on the computer, finishing his dissertation and revising for his finals. But I have been working.
I spent last week installing a piece in Stroud in the International Textile Festival. I was very stressed about having to drive a tonne of bedsheets down there. And also worried about whether I would have any help. But it all went smoothly and I had a lovely volunteer. I was even promised some money to cover my travel!
The installation looks good, it is in the window of Millets, as part of the Shop Window project. It was tricky to build it because of the limited space, and I had to climb out of the window space, and go through the shop and out into the street to see what I was doing! It attracted a lot of attention – including the photographer from the local paper who saw it as he was passing by and took some photos.
I was pleased that they chose one of my images for the leaflet, because there isn’t much about the project in the main brochure. The director of the festival really liked it and has asked me to talk to her about doing more work with the festival. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
My current project is getting some work ready for a group show that Jackie Wylie is putting on in her studio at the Rogue Open Studio at the beginning of June. I want to make new work based on this idea about the Victorian women’s refuge which I have been playing with since my residency. I’ve done my research and have patterns for victorian underwear. But so far my samples have not really been what I wanted. I’ve decided to make parts of garments and use the map images that I’ve been collecting since I moved into the Cow Lane studio.
Is it foolish to think that I can get something new done for the show? I might be naive, but I’m thinking of it like a university project – we would only have about 6 weeks to produce a piece of work. Well I had 6 weeks notice of this show, so am going to try. If it absolutely doesn’t work, I can put in a sheet installation.
In the meantime – I’m going to Hotbed press on Thursday to learn how to do a photo screenprint from the map images, and will print up some fabric and see what it looks like. I spent yesterday doing pin tucks, and have this idea about breaking up the images by the part construction of the garments. It’s still a bit vague but I’m just going to go for it.
