Context –
In this project I swung between not knowing which direction to go, and then having so many ideas I don’t know how to gather them in. Rather than finding the research into artists being a point of focus, I found myself unable to resist the temptation of following links to other artists, and other artists, and other artists where references may be found, unveiling a interconnectedness of ideas and processes that are obvious when i think about it.
However I forgot to record information in any detail. Referring to the assessment criteria, this is a big error of judgement. I chose artists that I have become familiar with . It seems that textile artists are more generous than most at sharing experience in a very accessible way, via publishing books, artist blogs and websites, Pinterest, facebook, instagram etc. More information is available on the websites of groups that artists belong to for example Cas Holmes http://www.arttextilesmadeinbritain.co.uk/ , Hannah Lamb http://62group.co.uk/
The biggest impact from my readings is the idea of narrative, which Cas Holmes and Hannah Lamb bring to their work really strongly. I personally make connections more strongly with work that has something to tell me., would like to introduce some context into my work. This is not however an easy path, who is interested in what I have to say? will it be interpreted properly? Questions that I realise now perhaps, are not the entirely the point, a person will read according to their own experience, and perhaps see what they want to see to a certain extent and perhaps the artist is an enabler of experience. Some art digs deeper than others.
I was drawn to the idea of narrative because of what nettles represented to me.
Having settled on the idea of using nettles as my primary source materials I did a mind map of all the things I feel that nettles have to say.
I generally find it difficult to voice my thoughts, the EU referendum happened around that time of choosing a focus for my collection and I was deeply upset by the racist overtones, and the complete lack of regard for the terrible events that people experience. Some people just didn’t seem to care about the lives of other humans, lives didn’t seem to matter. This is nothing new, in many way many people are overlooked and disrespected by sections of society, now and throughout history for class, race ,language, disability, gender etc. nettles speak to me about these things as they are also overlooked and disliked despite their usefulness and beauty.
Save
Save