Textile Study Group blog

During the course of DIS/rupt exhibition, members of TSG will be on hand to give gallery talks in the Museum in the Park, Stroud. Members will also be stewarding at the Landsdown Gallery and will be on hand to talk to visitors about DIS/rupt. See the full schedule here Meet The Artist

In just over two weeks the team who are charged with the task of hanging the DIS/rupt work will be starting to assemble in Stroud and the enormous job of making the exhibition come together after all the months of planning and the production of the work, will commence. So it seemed timely to ask another member about her work and I cornered Kay Greenlees one day to tell me what she has been working on. Kay is well known as a teacher and author of Creating Sketchbooks for Embroiderers and Textile Artists. I asked her first of all what area of the project she was exploring.

“What fresh hell is this?”

Much to my surprise I’m working within the ‘ecology’ category. This came about largely by accident as I explored the brief and looked at DIS/rupting my work pattern by using the idea of ‘chance’ happenings. These happenings also cause disruption to our countryside and ecology by threatening landscape and the survival of species; a sort of double DIS/rupt! I selected the topic because I was appalled when I heard that we had already lost six species of Moths since the turn of this century. I then chose to use ecological news items that I heard via the Radio 4 Today programme, therefore I have no idea how many issues there will be before the exhibition; it’s a chance that the items occur at all, and a chance that it is featured on the programme. I started recording these in March 2016 and for the Stroud exhibition I will stop at the end of this month.

That sounds really interesting, can you tell us something about the piece or pieces you are working on for DIS/rupt?

All the ecological news items have a focus that is to do with the British landscape and species, nothing ‘global’ such as warming. I hoped that this emphasis would provide several issues, each of which is the focus of a small ‘book unit’ which in turn builds into a ‘Library of Lost Causes’. Currently there are twelve with three new ones being added today – that’s three issues, not three of my book units! I have made eight so far but I may not use all of them. The ‘books’ are displayed ‘open’ and in fact do not actually close. Some individual units have taken a month to work on. The units are all the same size and on a small scale that has been selected so that the pages can be kept open, if you lay an ordinary book open on the table it will just ‘flop’ open, I’m hoping that my pages stand up. This technical problem of how to keep the pages open has been part of the vehicle for exploring the topic. I initially hoped to make this an abstract response but alas it’s had to be more representational than I hoped otherwise, the issue isn’t successfully communicated to the viewer. I have had to try to avoid a too obvious inclusion as this just leads to a really trite or clichéd response. I also kept the scale small so that I would have the chance to address as many issues as possible across the timescale I selected.

What are the materials and processes that you are working with?

I always try to use whatever I need to get my idea across. The book units are made in paper and include threads, stitch, objects trouve, or whatever allows me to focus on the idea, it’s not necessary (for me) that the piece is embroidered, although there may be a bit of that! I’m just hunting for my soluble fabric and fear I may have given it away.

Are you able to give us an idea of the scale of your pieces?

I am hoping there will be between eight and twelve book units in the piece for Stroud, for subsequent exhibitions there may be more – or less if someone buys some!

Is the finished piece to be free standing or wall mounted?

Initially I envisaged that the piece would be displayed on a plinth but after several experiments with this I have decided to have it hanging on the wall. At the moment I am hoping that each unit will have a small Perspex shelf, but that is still to be finalised.

What message do you hope the viewers of your work will take away from the exhibition?

I could have chosen some very positive environmental messages. There are instances where we have been able to reintroduce species and to rescue some landscapes but ‘Library of Lost Causes’ speaks for itself, although it could have ended with a question mark. It’s the cloud rather than the silver lining. Each page of the units is hand written and it is overwritten so that original sense is lost. The writing represents the rules/laws, research, scientific papers, news items, blogs and other debates that surround each issue. The book form, which traditionally contains writing, also provides a way of containing each disparate cause, and helps makes a link between them. My opening title ‘What fresh hell is this?’ both misquotes Dorothy Parker (who said this when answering her doorbell) and also makes a nuanced reference to my wrestling with the problems in making the work, my problems in dealing with the lack of control in using ‘chance’ as a response to DIS/rupt and the ‘bad news’ represented in each little book. On second thoughts it could make a good title for the piece! Back to work now, some winkles need polishing.

Thank you Kay. I know visitors to the exhibition will be fascinated to see how you have expressed these ideas through the books. The idea of the Library of Lost Causes is intriguing but so relevant to many aspects of contemporary environmental causes.

Information about the exhibition can be found here TSG

Information about the SIT select festival 2017 and booking details about the full range of workshops being run by TSG members during the exhibition can be found here SIT select 2017

Another TSG member needing no introduction is Sian Martin who is very well known to textile enthusiasts world wide through her Distant Stitch textile courses with students as far away as Australia and New Zealand as well as closer to home. Sian is also one of the TSG tutors running workshops at Stroud while the exhibition is running, so what, I asked her, was she working on for DIS/rupt?

I have been moved by the desperate plight of refugees as they flee their homes due to war and hunger. I have long been interested in movement and journeys whether of birds, people, tides, clouds and the visual repetitive rhythms that these can suggest. A few years ago, I delighted in recording my own journeys by placing a pen on a sketchbook page and letting the pen record the vibrations of the journey, whether by bus or train.

I was also intrigued by the photographs by Eduard Muybridge and the paintings by Duchamp of figures in movement.

My piece for DIS/rupt aims to tell the story of a different journey – the long flight of one young refugee I met last year. I was so moved by his individual story. Like thousands of others, Ahmed experienced the horrors of displacement from his home when he was 15 years old. His father was a nomadic farmer in Afghanistan and the family lived in peace until Isis came and stole his two sisters. They returned to take him away and shot and killed his father when he tried to stop them. His mother told him to run as she kissed him on the cheek.

He escaped and made his way alone through Europe, meeting up with others on the same long journey to safety. Ahmed arrived in the UK after several years in the ‘Jungle’ at Calais. He is currently cared for by the Medical Foundation as part of ‘Freedom from Torture’ (Amnesty International). Ahmed was recently given a few days retreat in Somerset and I was pleased to meet him briefly. He shared his story to his host, my friend, and told her ‘I can still feel her kiss on my cheek’. Ahmed has no way of discovering what has happened to his mother.

What are the materials and processes that you are working with?

Fragments of fabric, some symbolic of the clothing worn by this young teenager such as denim, some with imagery, some with text, have been threaded into long narrow converging bands on fine stainless steel thread using a pleater.

Are you able to give us an idea of the scale of your piece?

My textile is a long, narrow textile that I hope suggests Ahmed’s long journey and will be over 4 metres.

 Is the finished piece to be free standing or wall mounted?

It will be wall-hung so you can ‘read’ the story – a long strip, reading from left to right.

What message do you hope the viewers of your work will take away from the exhibition?

I would like viewers to be moved by the plight of this individual boy to raise awareness of this huge tragedy that is happening to multitudes of others. I hope I have been able to use a visual language to tell this story, starting on the left as the story develops along the length to the right. I’ve used the language of colour as it changes – draining from the strong bright colours of a happy life to bleached and subdued; the language of texture as it changes to fabrics that become worn and frayed; the language of spacing as it changes from closely grouped to spaced, separated and scattered. Occasional elements of imagery to suggest figures and stitched text introduces portions of Ahmed’s words – ‘I can still feel her kiss on my cheek’.

You are one of the TSG tutors running workshops during the DIS/rupt exhibition, briefly, what can your students expect from the class

My workshop is called ‘Zen Stitch’. I hope this will intrigue students as it did me when I first experienced this approach. How often have you been confused by all the choices you have available – what method do you use, what colour do you choose, what shapes do you make and where do you start? See what happens when you don’t need to make those decisions and can just enjoy ‘doing’. See how it feels to be spontaneous in the middle of your busy day and experience a brief time of calm and creativity. I’m not giving any more away, but you won’t find out unless you try it.

The workshop sounds really intriguing Sian and will be of enormous interest to those who will be joining you. And what an amazing story about your piece but how wonderful to be able to put into fabric and stitch the story of this young man. I wonder if  he will be able to see how his story inspired you.

If you would like to see Sian’s work and all the other pieces for DIS/rupt and if you are interested in Sian’s or any of the TSG workshops on while the exhibition is open then look on our website at TSG

Booking for the TSG workshops and further details about the Symposium DIS/rupting Tradition:New Textile Languages: New Textile Languages featuring contributions from Alice Kettle, June Hill, Melanie Miller and Michelle Stephens can be found at SIT select 2017

Penny Burnfield always produces thought provoking work and her pieces for DIS/rupt are  no exception. With this in mind I was interested to find out a little more about the work she has produced for the exhibition so asked her the area of the DIS/rupt project she was investigating or exploring.

My subject is, perhaps, the ultimate disruption: War, and in particular the disruption of the lives of young people who are manipulated or drafted into the Forces to “defend their country”

Can you tell us something about the piece you are working on for DIS/rupt?

I am making two pieces that have their starting points in a couple of well-known war poems and a first world war recruiting song. One -The Old Lie- will be a ‘coffin’ draped in a ‘flag’ that bears the inscription “Dulce Et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori”. This saying – which dates back to ancient Rome – means “It is sweet and honourable to die for your country”.

The second piece – His Work is Done – consists of some ‘found’ military objects from various countries and eras on which I am embroidering phrases from the 1914 song “Your King and Country Want You”, which will be on a CD player for the viewer to listen to on headphones.

What are the materials and processes that you are working with?

Textiles play their part in war – not just as flags and uniforms, but as containers for all sorts of equipment from collapsible spades to hand grenades. I have collected some American WW2 gaiters, a water-bottle and its cover, probably Dutch, and a Soviet-era Gas Mask and its bag. All are made of military canvas in various shades of Khaki. I have also used some old sheets that belonged to my parents that I have dyed in various shades of grey to make my flag. I am working with bonded appliqué and hand-stitching: the gaiters are very tough to stitch on!

Are you able to give us an idea of the scale of your piece?

The ‘coffin’ is life size. It would fit me rather well!

Is the finished piece to be free standing or wall mounted?

The ‘coffin’ is free standing and the collection of military objects will be wall hung. I hope that, together, they will form a coherent installation.

What message do you hope the viewers of your work will take away from the exhibition?

I hope people will reflect on consequences of war, and when, if ever, war can be justified.

Thank you, Penny. In these uncertain and unsettling times it is something for all of us to consider. I know your work will resonate with the visitors to the exhibition.

Full information about the exhibition can be found here TSG and booking details and information about the workshops being run by TSG members can be found here SIT select 2017

It’s becoming more and more exciting as we near the opening of DIS/rupt and for anyone thinking of attending the symposium Disrupting Tradition: New Textile Languages  information can be found at Symposium. Speakers at this event include Alice Kettle, June Hill, Michelle Stephens and our curator for DIS/rupt, Melanie Miller. Sounds really exciting and will be stimulating.