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:
WET
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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”.
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– 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
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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.
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Here is the info for our exhibition:
WET at the STEW Gallery
40 Fishergate, Norwich, NR3 1SL
a colletcitve exhibition of new works from twelve artists.
Mark Scott Wood,
Laura Harwood,
Juliet Hayward,
Helen Otter,
Samantha Epps,
Diane Archer,
Sara Ross,
Hayley Hare,
Jo Mills,
Elizabeth Plumb,
Tim Mellors,
Christina Sabberton
open daily from June 22-28
11am– 6pm MON – SUN
PRIVATE VIEW 6-8pm Monday June 22
WITH ACCUSTIC MUSIC from Angela Wood and Jim Musgrave
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