Since embarking on the long-term project of making art from reclaimed textiles, I’ve only made one geometric piece - until now. That first piece titled ‘Sampler’, is a very large pigment print created from high res scans of my collection of vintage doily designs. (You can find this work here on the website). In early May 2020 I embarked on my second geometric work, which will hopefully evolve into a large wall-installation of textile squares, evoking a “colour palette”. This work will both reflect my working process (of collecting, cutting, collating and pinning discarded needlework) and more broadly, it will reference the artist’s palette, seen primarily as a tool of painters. Like many artists working in textile processes, I arrange my materials into various shades on the colour wheel, ready for later use. And with this work I want to associate the traditions of needlework and my particular process, with the traditions and processes of working with paint. This continues my commitment to raising the profile of discarded and disinherited needlework, often derided as “merely women’s work” to the status of fine art*. Over the past 3 weeks I have made 8 coloured squares, in which the extracted embroidery is pinned directly into the museum board cut to size (16 x 16 cms), using my favourite tool for mounting my work - brass beading-pins. The photos below give you a glimpse of the process and the work to date.
(the Bauhaus women artists were) “…intent on ushering textiles – a medium long dismissed as so-called “women’s work” – into the fine art canon.” You can read this inspiring article on how the women weavers of the Bauhaus have inspired generations of women artists.