Clothes are never a frivolity: they always mean something.-James Laver

We have a rich heritage of textile artists with icons of the field such as Sheila Hicks, Michael Brennand-Wood and Sonia Delaunay. I have always been a great admirer of Louise Bourgeois, who used a wide range of medium throughout her expansive career. She dealt with highly emotive, personal issues, a pioneer in confessional art that has become more popular in recent times with artists such as Tracey Emin. In this piece, a detail from her Cell series she used garments to represent the family unit, an aspect that was prominent in her work.

Louise Bourgeois, interior of Cell VII, 1998.

To quote writer and artist Quentin Bell  “Our clothes are too much a part of us for most of us ever to me entirely indifferent to their condition: it is as though the fabric where indeed a natural extension of the body, or even the soul.

This emphasises the potent quality that clothes can bring to art, heavily laden with metaphor they offer the artist an excellent medium with which to convey their ideas.

Looking again at the wonderful Guerra de la Paz, a collaborative I wrote about previously in 'The use of Fabric in Art'.

Guerra de la Paz, Pieta, 2005.

This piece, an appropriation of Michaelangelo’s masterpiece Pieta refers to the futility of war.

Their recurring themes reference classic imagery in a critical, contemporary light. They believe that their work has universal meaning. It speaks of life, its cyclical patterns and dichotomies.

Unidentified, 2011.

 

In 'Unidentified' the barbed wire topped fence is packed with found clothing that fittingly represents the oppressed masses. The garments are a resounding metaphor of people they represent – encaged within, as in a prison, or a death camp. Political awareness is resonant throughout their work, requiring little explanation.

It is important to the artists that the essence of the clothing used be as evident as the concept, whether it is incorporated as a whole or deconstructed. They stated that they started using clothing as a medium as there was an overwhelming abundance of it ….

‘the colour, texture, flexibility and archaeological quality defines a time-a place-the person who wore them-the society they come from……..

It brings the energy they embody which often directs us as how the garment is to be used.’

Manto (detail), 2011.

This picture is a detail from a recent piece, a large installation with an interactive performance. Its theme is matriarchal, using feminine lacy garments in whites and ivory tones. The visitor is welcomed in by an ambiguous figure to gently dance and then the figure falls onto the cushioned floor, to rise elegantly, ready to dance again. The cyclical, feminine theme attracted me as it parallels what I’m hoping to evoke in my current work.

In the recent exhibition ‘Material Actions’ I was introduced to the work of Lucy Brown. She makes sculptural textiles using deconstructed underwear and vintage costumes. Using the historic background of the garments to create works that explore and comment on femininity, identity, and body politics.

Lucy Brown, Limbo (detail), 2009.

With Limbo, using her signature undergarments, Brown highlights an aspect of the human condition. The piece is rather abstracted, with the clothing used as yarn to weave a piece that is evocative rather than representational.

She states ‘the work explores narratives around the absence and the presence of the body, clothing and unclothed, and issues surrounding female identity.

The garments history is an important factor to imbuing meaning into her work. This aspect  resonates with the choices I make in my own work.

  

My artistic practice has changed greatly since starting my degree course, previously I was happy painting in an abstract expressive manner BUT felt that I wanted to convey more socially aware, political messages in my work. I have discovered the most incredible artists over the last two years, especially those working with textiles and have found that this medium is particularly powerful in intimating meaning.

While we sleep, Clare Tigoglu, 2012.

In a recent piece of work 'While we sleep', an interdisciplinary installation, I used doilies en masse to comment on the changing gender roles apparent in society today.

I feel acutely aware of the need to recycle the fabrics that are available to us, for obvious ecological reasons and for my own means to utilise their anthropological sub-content to enhance concepts in my work.

I am starting a new film project using underwear to explore my own personal body politics.........just working out the logistics.

Doilies

Doilies , crocheted in a spiral structure, growing out from a central point whilst firmly anchored by the integral structure to this core. Delicate and strong reflecting the females who made them, representing the cyclical time by which women are governed by. Evoking memories of expectations…..

Dyed black, subverting the concept deeply rooted in their origins of innocence to create a bold statement, celebrating their beauty, indicative of the death and reincarnation of women’s role in society.

While we sleep……

Blackfoot's Dream

The Kiitokii society from the Blackfoot tribe are historically known to have revered the bird, the story goes that a young tribesman was visited in a dream by a chicken, who asked why he had killed him…..he replied that he did so in order to feed his family, the chicken replied that he would spare his life if he promised to teach everyone the chicken dance. From there on the tribe celebrated the chicken as a vital provider of life.

The live chicken has often been represented in art throughout history, linked to fertility and abundance. Through the subversion of portraying it as a consumable product I am hoping open up discussion on society’s attitude to the chicken. Furthermore I am seeking to use the ‘ready to cook’ chicken as a motif representing vulnerability and to celebrate and venerate this.

My interest lies in the symbolic use of animals throughout various religions and cultures, and the design similarities that are apparent across the world. The chicken as a totem animal in native America holds the meaning of ‘the sacred spiral’ indicating the cyclical nature of life.

Henna Chickens

TED Talk: JR's TED Prize wish: Use art to turn the world inside out by TED

TED Talk: JR's TED Prize wish: Use art to turn... by TED

The use of Fabric in Art

I'm really excited by the potential of using textiles in my art practice, since starting my course I have learned so much, from artists utilising materials in a variety of ways to what can be achieved in producing fabrics themselves. I want to share a few artists who really inspire me, who use recycled clothes to produce amazing creations, firstly Nick Cave and his fabulous 'Soundsuits, 2009'.

I found his book 'Meet me at the Center of the Earth' in an art gallery bookshop, I was overwhelmed by the bizarre quality of the pieces. They are living sculptures, used in movement and dance, riotous explosions of colour and form, multi faceted, celebratory, evocative of carnival costumes; joyous, life affirming creations, encompassing references to a variety of cultural sources. Exploring ideas of ritual, ceremony, identity and myth, they embrace many traditions and hold historical references.     

Its interesting to note that the artist employed a large number of volunteers to help produce the Soundsuits, as there was such an enormous amount of hand sewing involved in making up the costumes. He proudly states that no fabric glue is used in the composition of his pieces.   

Now onto another favourite of mine, the wonderful Guerra de la Paz, Alain Guerra and Neraldo de la Paz. The duo initially met while working at the same studio and continued as a partnership after doing a successful collaborative piece more than a decade ago. I became aware of them when I visited the Saatchi gallery in the summer of 2010. I saw this incredible piece, called ‘Nine, 2009’ and was mesmerised.

   

It is a large scale imposing sculptural installation, depicting nine figures standing in a circle piled up with clothes, my immediate reaction was to smile when I saw it, and then I wanted to investigate it, enjoy its multiplicity, to touch it and look up underneath it. I found it a very powerful and thought provoking which led me to research their work further. I immediately searched online to see more of their art, I went as far as to befriend them on face book, which is an excellent arena for keeping abreast of whats new in the art world.

     

With this piece, 'Atomic, 2009' clearly depicting an atomic cloud we can appreciate the use of found textiles again. The artists used discarded materials set for landfills, then carefully categorise the clothes into colour groups to be used in layers building up into these impressive structures.  

The ethos of using the cloth, they have stated, was to invite viewers to experience the art more intimately through their remembered associations with fabrics in various forms. The subject matter is one of the threat of nuclear war, underlining the ecological resonance of the choice of using recycled products.

Another artist I admire, Laura Ford, who we were lucky enough to have as a guest lecturer in Second year of art in 2010. Laura studied at Bath College of Art and Design, now known as part of Bath Spa University, many years ago, and has gone on to be internationally recognised. She works in a variety of medium, largely in sculptural form. As with the previous artists she reuses materials in some of her pieces.

This is a picture of 'Glory, Glory' made for the Venice Biennial in 2005. From a series of large sculptures depicting these ambivalent, quite eerie creatures embodying stereotypical motifs from various cultures of anti heroic beings. From Russian spies, tramps, outsiders, to prisoners and terrorists. Ford assembled these pieces using old clothing to successful portray the characters.   
       

Here, in 'Wreckers, 1999' we have a small, childlike figure, kitted out with tool belts and a masked head. Dressed completely in brown woollen fabric, alluding to a uniform. The figure is from a series showing similarly dressed childlike creatures in various states of play around a gallery, one climbing a rope, another crouching, she plays with the role of freedom fighters by representing them as children at play.   

She told us in the lecture she gave that she was hugely inspired by her children playing and their dressing up sessions. Her oeuvre of work has a bias towards using child sized figures disguised in an    array of forms. This adds to the ambiguity of the subject matter that the work is addressing.   

The last piece is figure from an installation of sculptures called ‘Headthinkers, 2003'. Again, small figures made from recycled fabric, this time with large heavy stoneware donkey heads. The figures seem weary almost lifeless under the weight of their enormous heads, my initial reaction was to think that they were children from a bygone era fallen asleep during a party game... I then wondered if the artist was commenting on society’s obsession with intellectual pursuits. 








 You can see that the kind of art I have shown is rather theatrical and playful, with multi-­layered meanings. I applaud the use of discarded materials, each of the artists has used fabric consciously for the features they hold, either to soften a dark subject matter or to exude decoration. The artists are also  aware of the archaeological aspect given by using old textiles, which can either heighten or distort the   message of the work produced. To me, using old unwanted clothes and fabric compounds the concept of life's cyclical nature it resonates the globalisation we are experiencing in an ever changing world; I feel it can also remind us of past histories and cultures for us to research and enjoy.    

     

      

   

      

some details about me.......

  

Art has always been a major factor in my life, I have always painted and since studying have branched out into sculpture, textile art, photography and film making. I am currently in my second year of a Degree in Art and Mixed Media Textiles at Bath Spa University. My interests lie primarily in sculpture and photography; I am also a very confident public speaker, my presentations have always been very well received.....long may that continue.

 

In the future I hope to work with people in need of help and make a positive difference to their lives, I am in the research stages of developing a charity project. Upon graduation I hope to pursue working in the non-­profit area, utilising art as an empowering factor. I also hope to exhibit alongside doing workshops, I can see myself doing artist in residency posts for charity organisations. I am very keen to do voluntary work, aspiring to spread enthusiasm for expression through art and creativity, which I believe needs to be expanded upon in society currently.